Demand Response Excellence: Real-World Success Stories from Enersponse
Navigating the complexities of energy procurement and increasing prices is a critical challenge for businesses across diverse industries. Demand Response (DR) serves as a strategic solution that allows organizations to seamlessly manage electricity prices, earn financial incentives and reduce their carbon footprint.
The following customer success stories highlight how a tailored and advanced DR approach can not only mitigate grid instability but also enable Enersponse’s clients to realize substantial cost savings while maintaining operational efficiencies.
The Challenge | Restrictive Reduction Events & Manual Response
Serving 190,000+ customers with a demand of more than 47 million gallons of water per day, a California water district is representative of many water utilities grappling with high operational costs. To address these challenges and align with its operational needs, this water district turned to demand response for support.
However, the traditional energy program that the district was enrolled in created significant operational strain—with curtailment periods constantly increasing in both volume and duration, making it difficult to continuously participate in long and back-to-back DR energy reduction events. Beyond this, with more frequency came the added inconvenience of manually shutting down pumps and other processes in response to the curtailment signals.
Frustrated with its antiquated and restrictive program, the district turned to Enersponse for the kind of custom DR solution they’d been looking for—one that would not only alleviate financial and operational pressures but be flexible enough to align with the unique daily requirements of its business.
The Solution | Strategic Implementation of Demand Response
Ready to turn over a new leaf, the water district partnered with Enersponse, enrolling in a strategic DR program aimed at reducing power consumption during peak demand, which typically occurs in periods of extreme heat when energy prices and water demands are at their highest. Despite initial reservations about potential disruptions from its recent experience, the district participated in voluntary DR events to finesse its approach and gradually integrated more robust curtailment parameters, automating operations through Enersponse’s Demand Response Management System (DRMS). This platform allowed the district to manage energy reduction seamlessly, without affecting customer supply, by connecting its existing SCADA systems for controlled, automated curtailment.
The Result | Reduced Costs, Improved Operations & Created New Streams of Revenue
Cost Efficiency: Participating in DR events not only significantly reduced energy spending during high-demand periods but also established a new revenue stream. The district saved on energy bills and earned incentives, demonstrating a strong approach to cost management.
Operational Continuity: Enersponse provides the water facility with an advanced signal, offering ample time for the water district to prepare for the demand response event. Additionally, Enersponse’s Auto-DR solution was seamlessly integrated into the existing SCADA systems, enabling automatic event triggering through low-voltage relays.
Financial Incentives: By engaging in these voluntary programs, the water district secured over $500,000 in incentives and rebates to upgrade their SCADA system and enable the automation. This impressive figure was achieved not only through active participation but also by benefiting from standby incentives even when no events were called. These programs provided significant financial returns, demonstrating the value of participation in demand response initiatives.
Environmental Impact: These proactive measures in 2021 led to the avoidance of 252,499 lbs. of CO₂, reflecting its commitment to sustainable operations. Enersponse’s advanced and user-friendly platform facilitated unified reporting, enabling the water district to access comprehensive energy, GHG emissions data and revenue information in one place, streamlining its environmental and ESG reporting.
Conclusion: Demonstrating DR’s Broad Applicability and Benefits
This success story underscores the versatility and efficacy of demand response. Enersponse offers robust, customizable and sophisticated DR solutions that are innovatively designed to create an additional revenue stream, enhance operational efficiency and promote environmental sustainability.