May 13, 2010
The 13th Annual Advanced Load Control Alliance meeting,
hosted by Pacific Gas & Electric Company, in San Francisco concluded on April 9th, 2010.
Attendees noted that this was one of the most informative meetings held to date.
An engaging discussion chaired by the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL)
on how demand response can be used as a load-following technique for
renewable resources opened the meeting. Based upon input from participants,
Pike Research discussed the integration of DR, EE and the Smart Grid.
The issue of the Smart Grid was a common thread topic throughout the meeting.
Public Services of New Mexico discussed DR in the C&I marketplace and three
California utilities discussed their pilot programs for providing ancillary services
to wholesale markets.
Thursday afternoon’s session began with an eye-opening discussion on DR and Cyber Security,
presented in a tag-team style by Idaho National Laboratory and E Source.
They made it clear that this is a topic no utility can, or should, ignore.
The ALCA vendor hosts, EnerNOC and Cooper Power Systems brought everyone
up to date on their services as well as potential DR issues in the coming years.
Friday morning’s session was highlighted by a panel discussion with the
California Public Utilities Commission, the California Independent System Operator
and PG&E on the topic of, “How Much DR is Really Enough?” PSE concluded the morning’s
presentations with a session about issues related to implementation contractors.
After lunch, EnerNOC hosted a tour of their Network Operation Center for all
interested participants.
Portland General Electric will host the Fall 2010 meeting in Portland, Oregon,
October 6-8, 2010. For more information on ALCA, contact
Bill Jackson.