News

Automated demand response key to intermittent renewables

21. August 2012 |By:  Becky Beetz


Automated demand response, or AutoDR could cost-effectively help combat intermittent renewable energy supply, particularly in light of the current high costs of grid-connected storage batteries.

By 2020, many countries, states and regions expect to generate a certain percentage of their electricity from renewables, like wind and solar. In the European Union, this target is 20%, for example, while in the U.S. state of California, it is 33%.

While these goals are positive, if not exactly over-ambitious, storage solutions are currently costly and technology is still being developed, meaning intermittency issues  are a very present challenge for the energy industry.

 

New OpenADR Spec Will Boost Auto-Demand Response

Marianne Hedin — August 18, 2012

The long-awaited OpenADR 2.0a profile specification was launched on August 8. Expected to have a positive impact on the demand response (DR) market, especially automated DR (ADR), the new spec will spur the development and deployment of new OpenADR-certified smart grid technologies that utilities and grid operators across the world can use to facilitate and augment DR programs.  In particular, devices based on this new specification will operate on a lower-cost, faster, and more reliable and efficient communications system.  Using a common language (XML) and existing Internet technology, DR signals can be sent directly from a demand response automated server (DRAS) via a client to the building automation and control systems on customer sites.  Thanks to this two-way messaging capability between a DRAS, which publishes information, and a client that subscribes to the information, utilities, grid operators, and curtailment service providers (CSPs) will be able to manage peak demand and load shifting in an automated fashion.

Read more . . .


 

QualityLogic - OpenADR 2.0a Compliance Test Harness Released

Used for Certification Testing by OpenADR Alliance and Vendor Pre-Tests

 

Aug 17, 2012 - In conjunction with the release of the OpenADR 2.0a Profile Specification, the OpenADR Alliance has announced the release of the OpenADR 2.0a Certification Test Harness. Developed by Alliance testing partner QualityLogic, the Certification Test Harness is available to OpenADR 2.0a implementers for pre-testing and development, and it will also be used by the Alliance for final certification of devices for compliance with the 2.0a specification. Early adopters have already begun pre-testing their products with the test harness.

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PG&E Issues RFI for OpenADR 2.0

July 31, 2012 -- Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) issued a Request for Information (RFI) to solicit information and conceptual ideas from manufacturers and technology providers capable of supporting PG&E in testing and demonstrating an OpenADR 2.0 2-way communicating thermostat solution for Small Medium Business (SMB) electric customers within its service territory. PG&E categorize customer less than 200kW peak demand in the SMB category.

PG&E anticipates that this Request for Information will result in information that will enable them to develop a detailed set of requirements for communicating with thermostats in order to identify Suppliers that will best support PG&E’s goals for the SMB ADR Demonstration Project (Project).
 
PG&E is interested in OpenADR 2.0 programmable communicating thermostats (PCT) that can provide customers with greater visibility and control over their HVAC energy use for Demand Response and other energy management purpose.
 
Click here to download the PG&E RFI documents.
 
RFI submissions are due 8/17/2012.

 

QualityLogic to Offer OpenADR 2.0 Start-up Workshops

One-day training course targeted at utilities, device manufacturers and aggregators

 

Jun 06, 2012 - QualityLogic Inc. announced that it will offer one-day workshops for companies and organizations interested in implementing OpenADR 2.0, a low-cost, speedy, reliable communications infrastructure that allows utilities and grid operators to send Demand Response (DR) signals directly to building automation and control systems on customers’ sites using a common language and existing communications technology. The workshops are endorsed by the OpenADR Alliance, a nonprofit corporation that promotes the development, adoption and compliance of the standard across the utility industry.

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Facilities Enabled for Automated Demand Response to Increase to 170,000 Sites Worldwide by 201

June 19, 2012

Demand response (DR) is becoming an increasingly important strategy for utilities to make sure that enough electricity is available on the grid to meet demand in order to avoid power outages.  A critical development in this strategy is automated demand response (ADR) technology.  This technology automates the notification process – from the utility or grid operator notifying DR program participants to reduce or shift their energy usage to actually implementing the predefined adjustments via control systems on their premises.  According to a new report from Pike Research, ADR is gaining increasing attention in the market, especially with the use of open standards such as the OpenADR specification.

The cleantech market intelligence firm forecasts that nearly 170,000 facilities around the world will be ADR-enabled by 2018, up from approximately 20,000 sites at the end of 2011.  Pike Research anticipates that total annual ADR spending will exceed $1.7 billion by 2018, compared to just $294 million in 2011.


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IPKeys Implements Energy Interop(TM) & OpenADR 2.0 Services Pilot at PJM

EATONTOWN, N.J., Jun 05, 2012 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- IPKeys announced today an Advanced Technology Resource (ATR) pilot demonstration of core functionality in its Energy Interop(TM) Server and System ("EISS(TM)") and end point hardware at PJM Interconnection. The pilot distributed, validated and confirmed Energy Interop ("EI")/Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR) 2.0 demand response and wholesale price signals in a highly secure web services environment to a variety of participants that included:

-- Walmart

-- Energy ICT -- an energy management system provider

-- American PowerNet -- a PJM member and aggregator

-- Redners Markets, Inc. -- an American PowerNet customer

-- PJM Interconnection, LLC

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OpenADR 2.0 Standard Will Fuel Automated Demand Response

Marianne Hedin — April 27, 2012

Demand response programs to date have largely relied on a labor-intensive approach that has required operators in different customer sites to manually turn off lights, HVAC equipment, and other energy consuming systems to control peak demand and balance loads on the grid.  Automated demand response (Auto-DR) systems have become an important alternative to conventional DR by automating the communication and dispatch systems to respond to event and price signals from a utility, grid operator, or a curtailment services provider (CSP) – often in minutes or even seconds.  Although it has already been used by the utility industry for many years, it has not been widely deployed. However, with the upcoming launch of a non-proprietary, open communications standard for Auto-DR, referred to as OpenADR, this situation is likely to change.

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Understanding OpenADR

Barry Haaser — July, 2012

OpenADR provides an open and standardized way for electricity providers and system operators to communicate Demand Response (DR) event and price information using the Internet. This new standard will help utilities implement new approaches to shifting electricity load by sending an automated message to the building requesting participation in a load event or indicating a change in the price of electricity.

Many building owners and operators are familiar with traditional DR that has been used for many years by utilities and Independent System Operators (ISO) to shift or shed electricity demand when the electrical grid is stressed or when the price of electricity is unusually high.  Energy aggregators typically sell DR services to building owners and operators, who, in return receive incentives or rebates for participating in the program. Industry has lacked DR standards, creating problems for users and utilities that often get stuck with stranded assets when they change from one supplier to another. DR is also intrusive, often requiring close coordination and manual intervention on both sides to share event information and to react to it.

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