Demand response is used by industrial, residential, and commercial businesses. It allows them to operate their own electric gird by reducing energy used in peak periods. The goal of demand response is to reduce energy during peak hours for maximum efficiency.

Two questions asked when working with Demand Response (DR).
1. How are resources performing with DR?
2. How does one measure DR performance?

Top Industries that use Demand Response
1. EnerNOC
A Boston based company that used 3,550 mW in the past year. The company bought “Cogan Energy” which creates energy efficient buildings.
2. CPower
In 2012 CPower used 2,800 mW of energy.
3. Duke Energy
A residential air conditioning company that’s goal is to use 1.5 kW of energy.
4. Oklahoma Gas & Electric
The company only uses during peak hours of 2 – 7 PM during the weekdays. None on the weekend.
5. NV Energy
A company designed to create energy efficiency for commercial buildings. In 2016 their goal is to only use 75 kW of energy.

Pro’s/Con’s

Pros
– reduce energy during peak hours
– economic benefits of companies
– more efficient industrial buildings/companies

Cons
– not every business is a match with demand response
– Hard for large technology firms can’t minimize usage of large equipment
– Tedious to find electric DR plans to fit individual companies

Sources

http://energy.gov/oe/technology-development/smart-grid/demand-response

http://www.pge.com/en/mybusiness/save/energymanagement/index.page

http://www.greentechmedia.com/articles/read/top-5-demand-response

http://www.elp.com/articles/2014/04/top-utility-companies-for-demand-response-named.html

http://www.enernoc.com/our-resources/white-papers/the-demand-response-baseline