The grid relies on demand response to remain reliable during periods of high electrical demand. Demand response is simply the grid paying you to reduce your load (turn stuff off) when the grid is in danger. This can be quite lucrative if your operations have the flexibility to basically shut-down some processes on short notice. As an operations executive who has run global manufacturing plants, if my plants had this flexibility, I would look at the efficiency and processes of my operations to see why I have this excess capacity.
This is probably why most demand response aggregators bid only a fraction of the demand response load their customers say they can provide. They know that when the grid calls only a portion of companies will be able to shut down some parts of their operations. Even with this fractional participation, demand response has been a key and reliable grid partner.
Moving forward, I’m not sure we can be as sanguine. Manufacturing and customer service processes have become more sophisticated, automated and real time. A company’s ability to shutter something on short notice is likely to decline. Add to this the inevitable influx of AI into managing our operations and the disruption will cascade through all processes and possibly your Just-in-Time partners as well.
This does not change the grid’s need for demand response, but rather how we should be providing it. When you consider the dramatic increase in outages due to extreme weather, your priority needs to be protecting your operations with backup power. Having a backup generator is the best way to help the grid and participate in demand response. Rather than your company taking a production hit by shutting down some operations,
support the grid by taking your load off the grid and powering it with low-cost natural gas generation.
If you would like to learn more about how backup power can protect your operations and be a profit center by providing demand response services to the grid all with no CAPEX or upfront cost, please visit https://exergyenergy.com