Using Comfort Metrics to Enrich Demand Response During COVID-19

Michelle Heimerman
Project Manager, Ezenics

Demand Response, a program which provides consumers with incentives to lighten their energy load during high demand periods where there is not enough capacity to balance the load on the grid, has been an innovative program since its inception. As last year’s Demand Response season was shifting into gear, the world was also seeing a major shift in energy usage. As many workers transitioned to working from home due to the COVID-19 pandemic, energy grids around the country were seeing increased usage from residential customers during the day (while seeing minimal reduction on the commercial and industrial side). At the same time, retail customers were also seeing shifts in how they were cooling and ventilating their stores. While Demand Response continues to be a major asset for power grids that meet their maximum capacity, customers enrolled still need to ensure that they are meeting their comfort and ventilating goals for clients and employees.

Looking ahead to the 2021 summer Demand Response season, the COVID pandemic and ventilation requirements are likely to continue to impact sites. Because many retail clients shed a significant portion of their HVAC load by increasing cooling setpoints or turning off equipment to effectively reduce capacity, longer events create a greater chance of uncomfortable conditions. Ventilation standards have also become more robust and, due to ASHRAE guidelines for ventilation and indoor air quality to maintain safe environments, many enrolled customers have increased the amount of outside air brought into their facilities and adjusted their ventilation strategies. During the hot summer months, the additional ventilation criteria further increase energy expenditure to cool down and ventilate the space. Customers shopping during events also wear masks which has been linked to an increase in body temperature, so cooling requirements are even more important in order to maintain customer comfort.

To ensure that customer comfort standards were met, it was important to adapt. More than ever, it was necessary that enrolled retail clients had insight into the conditions at their stores during events. Real time comfort insights provided for high interest areas such as grocery zones and stock areas enable retailers to make proactive changes before customers and employees become uncomfortable and ensure that curtailment strategies do not impact performance and incentives. Adaptation came in more than one way this year; visibility into data allowed clients to see when zones were uncomfortable and the underlying equipment issues or strategies that created these problems. The machines or strategies that created issues were adjusted or turned off real time to balance load needed from other machines. Additionally, post event metrics of energy usage and zone condition data from before, during and after events, enabled clients to make adjustments to control strategies to improve both energy and comfort performance; keeping in mind how current strategies impacted comfort and which zones created heat sinks. Finally, comparing overall metrics of zone temperatures and ventilation schedules allowed clients to review their ventilation strategies to better assess the amount of outside air entering the space. Together, these additions to data and analytics enable customer insights to continue to perform while ensuring comfortable spaces during Demand Response events.

While Demand Response has always been in the business of innovation and problem solving, it is important to stay on the cutting edge of technology. With site wide data and analytics, the customer can proactively and flexibly adjust curtailment to achieve curtailment goals and ensure that, even when times are uncertain, we keep cool.