LONDON — Figures released by Open Energi reveal the importance of demand response as a “win-win” for protecting the U.K. power grid while redirecting unused energy capacity to meet demand, creating more than $30 million a year in revenue for heavy energy users, according to a press release.
By turning equipment including water pumps, aerators and fans into smart devices for balancing supply and demand across the network, U.K. firms can earn revenues equal to five to 10 percent of their energy bill in return from National Grid, which has used Open Energi’s Dynamic Demand (DD) technology to amass the electricity use of major energy users, helping to balance the grid and free up capacity, stated the release.
The release reported that United Utilities is now utilizing DD across its northwest operations, expecting to have a total of 50mW of flexible capacity over the next five years to offer to National Grid — the equivalent of a conventional power station, reducing carbon emissions by 100,000 tons per year and generating around $8 million in revenues.
"If you compare the constant flow of energy on the grid to traffic on a motorway, [DD] prevents the need for adding lanes, by adjusting the flow of traffic at peak times,” said Open Energi Commercial Director Ged Holmes. “National Grid's forward-looking use of [DD] is enabling them to identify and optimize demand to deliver secure, decarbonized energy at a fraction of the cost and with greater reliability than generation balancing."
You can find the release here.
