Automating and Optimizing Demand Response (DR) in Commercial Buildings

January 30, 2008: 12:00pm - 1:00pm
Location: 290 Hearst Memorial Mining Building, the Maria & Dado Banatao Conference Room, UC Berkeley

Mary Ann Piette [Research Director, DR Research Center, LBNL]

Part of the CITRIS Research Exchange at UC Berkeley. The complete schedule for the fall semester is online at RE-Spring2008. Questions can be sent via Yahoo IM to citrisevents. Sponsored by Infineon Technologies.

Abstract:

This talk describes the concept for and lessons from the development and field-testing of an open, interoperable communications infrastructure to support automating demand response (DR). California utilities have been exploring the use of critical peak pricing (CPP) and other DR pricing and program strategies to help reduce peak day summer time electric loads.Automating DR allows greater levels of participation and improved reliability and repeatability of the demand response and customer facilities.Automated DR systems have been deployed for critical peak pricing and demand bidding and are being designed for real time pricing.AutoDR provides open, interoperable continuous, secure, two-way communication with end-use customers to allow end-use sites to be identified as listening and acknowledging receipt of DR signals.The system is designed to generate, manage, and track DR signals between utilities and Independent System Operators (ISOs) to aggregators and end-use customers and their control systemsOver 100 commercial buildings in are using this technology.

This talk will also explore research concerned with optimizing demand response using real-time energy models, energy use and energy cost data in buildings and the status of energy information management systems that allow facility operators and energy managers to have easy and efficient access to energy information.