Demand Response Grows More Resourceful

Demand response resources refer to distributed energy assets that can be managed to reduce loads of end-use customers during critical or expensive periods of time on the electric power grid. Two types of demand response programs are popular. Load response programs contract and pay for participants to curtail all or parts of their load for periods of two to four hours, typically for a limited number of days, such as 15. Price response programs offer innovative rates, such as real-time pricing and critical peak pricing, that allow customers to save money by optimizing energy use, and thereby make more efficient use of electric system resources. Demand response programs are growing among distribution electric utilities and the regional power grid operators. Three of the largest grid operators are showing great success with demand response. They are the PJM, the New York Independent System Operator, and the Independent System Operator of New England. For 2004, they enrolled 7,190 megawatts (MWs) of resources, an increase of 72 percent from 2003. Further increases may be expected as ancillary services, such as spinning reserve and replacement reserves, are supplied by some demand response resources, which can react quicker than traditional central station power plants.