Solar is on fire, so to speak. According to a J. D. Power Utilities Industry Outlook report, “Solar megawatt capacity soared 24% in 2017 and grew another 8% in the first 9 months of 2018.” Since 2001, total solar generation worldwide has grown by 50% annually.
Utilities and energy efficiency practitioners can play an important role in helping businesses recover from natural disasters. After all, engaging with utility customers soon after natural disasters strike is good for all parties. In times of recovery, business owners are overwhelmed with making a lot of decisions and utilities want to serve their customers. Customers need to have resources they can trust, and often the utility is one of the most trusted resources in a community. Providing post-disaster energy assessments helps businesses determine what equipment may need to be replaced, explains the efficiency incentives available to them, and helps find a reputable contractor to do the work.
Grid optimization—a fairly new term that you might be unfamiliar with—includes three major components: demand response, the management of distributed energy resources, and the implementation of non-wire alternative programs. Franklin Energy is working hard to evolve with the changing needs of utilities and end-use customers by developing innovative programs and products. We are breaking down silos within the industry and integrating new technologies, focusing more than ever on providing grid optimization services for our clients. Let’s take a deeper dive into each element to get a better feel for our vision of the future of our industry.
Your commercial and industrial customers already know about managing their energy use. But the next frontier is managing their power use.
The On Demand Savings (ODS) Program is designed to motivate commercial and industrial (C&I) customers to better understand and manage their HVAC kilowatt usage and costs during peak summertime demand.
Imagine if simple programming changes to your commercial and industrial (C&I) customers’ HVAC systems could reduce their summertime on-peak energy demand by an average of 21 percent.
