Demand Response Programs Growing Nationwide, FERC Says
Demand response and advanced metering programs have grown significantly over the past year, according to a new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) report.
Demand response and advanced metering programs have grown significantly over the past year, according to a new Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) report.
The report,
“Assessment of Demand Response and Advanced Metering 2007,” notes major demand response developments in wholesale markets, including the use of demand resources in forward capacity markets and ancillary services markets, and the development of new reliability-based demand response programs.
The report estimates that demand response in 2006 lowered the consumption of electricity by 1.4 to 4.1 percent during periods of peak demand on the systems, and concludes that it is playing a key role in organized wholesale power markets.
Based on a review of various demand response activities in the last year, FERC has identified the following demand-response trends
- Increased participation in demand-response programs
- Increased ability of demand resources to participate in RTO/ISO markets
- More attention to the development of a smart grid that can facilitate demand response
- More interest in multi-state and state-federal demand response working groups
- More reliance on demand response in strategic plans and state plans
- Increased activity by third parties to aggregate retail demand response
On advanced metering, the report notes the rise in the number of large utilities that are planning to install advanced metering in the next several years, and that several states have taken actions ranging from the approval of smart meter projects or advanced meter deployment and re-establishing collaborative efforts and workshops to issuing rulemakings.
According to the report, if all the announced deployments actually occur, more than 40 million new advanced meters will be deployed in the next several years.
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