Uplight Supports Record Number of Homes in Demand Response Events During Last Week’s Summer Heat Wave
An estimated 180MW of capacity was offset to stabilize the grid, keep costs low and homes cool.
BOULDER, Colo, Aug. 4, 2021 – Uplight, the technology partner of energy providers transitioning to the clean energy ecosystem, set a company record in the past week, supporting 180,000 homes with ten demand response events over five days spanning six utility territories. Uplight’s demand response solution – Orchestrated Energy – is the only one in North America to deliver customer acquisition, load flexibility and bill savings at scale.
During these events, Uplight and its utility partners offset an estimated 180MW of capacity during peak grid times (pending third party evaluation)–helping keep the grid balanced as well and reducing the need for costly, fossil-fuel based peak electricity generation. This is equivalent to the capacity generated by up to two peak generation plants.
This summer’s unusually high temperatures in many geographies across North America are both an indicator of the dramatic impacts of climate change and a reminder that more must be done to reduce carbon emissions that cause them. As the electric grid transitions to a carbon-free future, demand response and other demand management programs are a critical component of the transition, ensuring that demand matches up with the rapidly changing mix of renewable and non-renewable supply. This flexibility is even more important during extreme weather events, such as the heat dome experienced last week, which can put sudden and unexpected loads on the grid as energy customers struggle to keep cool, keep bills down and keep their businesses running.
“Orchestrated Energy played a pivotal role in responding to last week’s unprecedented heat dome, enabling utilities to increase grid flexibility when grid constraints were at an all-time high. “We’re especially proud that this was done in partnership with customers. Keeping them comfortable and informed is critical to growing these programs and their benefits to both customers and utilities,” said Emilie Tullis, head of demand management at Uplight.
Uplight’s system of demand response encourages customers to opt-in their smart devices – such as thermostats, water heaters, electric vehicles and energy storage – to utility programs that can reduce the energy consumption of those devices at critical times and benefit customers for their energy contributions. The system takes into account customer comfort and needs, and customers always have the option to override their devices or the program, thus keeping the customer at the forefront of the programs.
In the past two years, Uplight has quadrupled the amount of households enrolled and devices under management, supporting both electric and gas utilities across the U.S. in managing summer and winter peak demand constraints.
About Uplight
Uplight is the technology partner for energy providers and the clean energy ecosystem. Uplight’s software solutions connect energy customers to the decarbonization goals of power providers while helping customers save energy and lower costs, creating a more sustainable future for all. Using the industry’s only comprehensive customer-centric technology suite and critical energy expertise across disciplines, Uplight is streamlining the complex transition to the clean energy ecosystem for more than 80 electric and gas utilities around the world. By empowering energy providers to achieve critical outcomes through data-driven customer experiences, delivering control at the grid edge, creating new revenue streams and optimizing existing load and assets, Uplight shares a mission with its clients to make energy more sustainable for every community. Uplight is a certified B Corporation. To learn more, visit us at www.uplight.com, find us on Twitter @Uplight or on LinkedIn at Linkedin.com/company/uplightenergy.