Industrial companies are reaping the rewards of utility company incentive programs aimed at curtailing demand for electricity at peak load times with the aid of Energy Director™ from Powerit Solutions, LLC™. Powerit's systems also enable these companies to participate in utility demand response programs by safely shedding loads during high energy-use periods.
Since businesses are single-source users and also put huge demands on the system, tools that help them manage energy use during peak times are welcomed both by the businesses, which can save money, and the utilities, which can even out demand and avoid blackouts.
"We have created an application that allows industrial users to automatically predict, regulate, and lower peak demand without compromising the operation of connected equipment," said Bob Zak, general manager of Powerit. "Our own conservation estimates show that for the state of California alone, the application of our DM/DR systems in the industrial sector have reduced ongoing peak demand by 25 mW, enough capacity for around 20,000 homes," said Zak.
Energy Director™, Powerit's main product, automatically predicts, regulates, and lowers demand and is approved for demand response incentive programs by public utilities, which have strong interest in finding cost-saving and energy conservation solutions for large industrial users.
"Better managing energy usage and lowering peak demand on the electricity grid is positive for business and for the environment. Qualifying our customers for utility incentive programs and helping them reap financial rewards for responsible energy use is frosting on the cake," said Zak.
Qualifying for Savings
Electricity producers have been sensitive to serving communities of customers during peak usage periods, generally adding capacity through the addition of permanent or standby power plants or by buying incremental capacity on the wholesale market. But an aging distribution infrastructure brings with it a need for stronger incentives and pricing to motivate users to get control over their electrical load and decrease pressure on the system.
Trojan Battery, a Southern California company considered a manufacturing leader in deep cycle battery technology, recently put in place a demand response program, using Powerit Solutions' system, which qualified for Southern California Edison's demand response incentive program. The program includes a rebate on costs for demand response technology and substantial savings for energy used. Trojan participates in the utility's demand response program because it is the right thing to do, says Chad Bentley, manager of manufacturing technology at Trojan.
"California is definitely a leader in demand response incentive programs, having suffered through rolling blackouts and brownouts in recent years," said Bentley. "Now with technology we can shut down energy to part or all of the facility with a few computer strokes on a central control panel within minutes of an interrupt notification from SCE, allowing us to pay substantially less per kilowatt hour.
"At Trojan we were able to change our rate tariff, which in turn reduced our electrical cost by $88,000 annually and our response by half, from 30 minutes to 15 minutes," said Bentley.
Powerit's Energy Director™ technology is applicable to demand response incentive programs offered by utilities throughout the country. Many companies have already received rebates for their energy projects under the incentive programs, with return-on-investments exceeding their cost for the technology.
