Intelligent Load Management (ILM) Program Overview

It is a fact that the U.S. electric grid is constrained, which causes serious reliability issues with our electricity supply. This is evidenced by the alarming frequency of widespread blackouts our nation has experienced in recent years. This constraint comes from an insatiable demand for electricity. Our way of life, our economy, and even our national security depend on it.

Unfortunately, our traditional supply methodologies have not been able to keep pace with that demand. Funding for the building of new traditional generation facilities has been insufficient at best, and, as worst, completely eliminated. The same applies to the wires needed to move the supply from its point of generation to where it is needed.

This situation has made it necessary to turn to revolutionary technologies and methodologies for a solution to the problem. As a result, the Federal Energy Policy Act of 2005 established demand response as an essential element to a healthy electric grid. So what is demand response? According to the Demand Response and Advanced Metering Coalition (DRAM) it is "the reduction of customer energy usage at times of peak usage in order to help address system reliability, reflect market conditions and pricing, and support infrastructure optimization or deferral."

Energy Efficiency and Demand Response

So how does demand response differ from energy efficiency? To start with, energy efficiency depends only on the performance of the installed hardware technology while demand response depends of customer behavior and willingness to curtail energy usage. Furthermore, energy efficiency is a one-time decision to invest in energy controls equipment while demand response is an ongoing activity where a customer enrolls in a specific program and then participates over time, reducing energy consumption during specific events. And finally, energy efficiency provides a steady stream of savings over multiple years. Demand response has highly valuable benefits, but the amount of the benefits depends on ongoing, active participation in demand response programs and events.

Traditional Demand Response

By definition, demand response is merely the reduction of energy consumption during peak usage times to relive stress on the grid. For some demand response providers, this is a phone call that tells you to turn off lights or change the thermostats in your facility. For others, this is the equivalent of a button that indiscriminately turns off energy-consuming devices.

Demand response programs are, at their core, programs that are designed to directly benefit the grid and the utilities that serve them and indirectly benefit you by providing financial incentive and hopefully the ability to keep your business operating by avoiding a blackout.

Regardless, through traditional demand response, there are high consequences to your brand and your ability to do business.

The SureGrid^™ Difference

SureGrid does not participate in traditional demand response. Our offering is so vastly different, that we have renamed it Intelligent Load Management (ILM).

Our PowerCommand^™ energy platform provides functionality not available from traditional demand response providers.

• 1. First, our platform allows you to set specific business rules around your participation. These rules allow you to decide what devices within your facility you want to include based on the severity of the grid event. We continuously monitor the site to ensure that the building conditions stay within the pre-determined parameters mutually agreed upon in our contract, including maximum building temperature, maximum CO2 concentration, and minimum lighting levels. This protects both your ability to do business as well as your corporate brand.


• 2. Second, we function as an aggregator, and our platform works as a true auction engine. Energy reduction at your sites occurs through a variety of methods, including cycling your HVAC units, increasing air conditioning set-points, turning off a portion of your lighting, and controlling the use of other energy-intensive processes. This means that if an event is called the platform polls every enrolled site on the network and takes out the least-consequential load first. This way, SureGrid allows your sites to participate, often without anyone within your facility even knowing an event is occurring.


• 3. Third, our ILM system is entirely automated. There are two main benefits to this. First, there is no need for any manual participation within your facilities. Second, it allows us to participate in Automated Demand Response programs, which are valued more highly by the grid and as a result provide higher incentive payments.

What This Means For You

There are a variety of general benefits to you for participating in demand response programs, including reduced energy costs, a reduced carbon footprint, the ability to use your participation for green branding, and a reduced risk of electricity blackouts during grid emergencies. In addition, the utilities will pay you for their ability to call on your energy reduction when they need it most, typically during critical peak summer energy usage times. Furthermore, because of the automated nature of the reduction and the closed-loop, verifiable system SureGrid has developed, utilities are eager to enroll sites using the SureGrid PowerCommand^™ platform. To this end, some utilities also offer incentives for the installation of equipment capable of performing demand response, which we can then direct back to you in the form of rebates on your SureGrid equipment costs.

Once enrolled in a demand response program, you can expect to be called on to reduce your energy usage in blocks of up to four hours during the months of May through October. Although each regional program is different, a typical program will call a an "event" for no more than twenty-four hours total in a single month and no more than sixty hours total for the entire summer season. Payments for your energy reductions are based on the total potential reduction you make available to the utility, or your "capacity."

By signing the attached contracts, you are agreeing to allow SureGrid to act on your behalf and to enroll your sites in demand response programs throughout the country. Because of the highly regulated nature of the electric industry, enrolling in these programs is a complicated, time-consuming process that can require up to ten individually signed contracts per region, with each region having an entirely different set of procedures and requirements. (Examples of regions are the San Diego area, the Los Angeles area, New York State, etc.) Furthermore, because of the extensive regulatory process needed to create the utility/ISO contracts, enrolling parties like SureGrid and yourself are unable to make any changes to these contracts.

By signing on to represent you in this process, SureGrid is taking responsibility for any financial risk associated with your enrollment and participation in the demand response programs, including any potential penalties for poor performance during a demand response event. We are able to do this by enrolling a large number of mid-sized sites like yours, and aggregating their load reductions, thus spreading the risk across a broad portfolio of different sites.

By participating in demand response through SureGrid's ILM offerings, you are creating a no-risk source of ongoing revenue, while simultaneously helping to maintain the stability of our country's utility grid and improving your company's environmental performance.

WHERE DO I SIGN UP?
CLICK HERE