CPower Applauds DTE Energy for Including Innovative Demand Response Procurement Mechanisms in Integrated Resource Plan
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CPower Wins Environment + Energy Leader 2023 Product of the Year Award for EnerWise® Site Optimization
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Michael D. Smith Named as CPower’s Chief Executive Officer as John Horton Announces His Retirement
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Connecticut’s Energy Storage Solutions Program Helps C&I Customers
Connecticut is at the forefront of the energy storage movement and CPower leads the way in helping customers deploy more batteries.
The state recently recognized CPower as an early adopter of energy storage solutions by giving the company a Green Bank Award. CPower was one of the first Eligible Contractors to submit a storage project to Energy Storage Solutions, which offers incentives to reduce the cost of energy storage systems. The program is overseen by the Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA), is paid for by electric ratepayers, and is administered by the Green Bank, Eversource and United Illuminating.
CPower was awarded almost 40 MW of battery systems for the first tranche of the program, in which a total of 50 MW was awarded. The company has also submitted additional projects for the next stage of the program to help the state meet its energy storage goals.
The second tranche of awards will include up to 100 MW in projects and is accepting applications today. Recognizing the benefits that energy storage has provided for customers and the state, CPower supports efforts to accelerate the awarding of incentives in the next stage of the Energy Storage Solutions program so that batteries spread across Connecticut faster.
Incentives in New England states such as Connecticut help organizations reach their sustainability goals while improving facility resiliency and decreasing operations, maintenance and energy expenses. For example, Connecticut’s Energy Storage Solutions program offers organizations upfront incentives for installed battery capacity plus performance-based incentives for dispatching the battery capacity to the grid. In doing so, the statewide battery program fosters a more reliable and resilient electric distribution system, especially for vulnerable communities.
Commercial and industrial building owners can save money through the Energy Solutions Program by using batteries to reduce peak demand management charges. Incentives for C&I building owners include:
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- Upfront incentives that reduce up to 50% of the battery’s cost in exchange for allowing the battery to reduce electrical grid stress on hot summer days for 10 years.
- Performance incentives paid twice a year for 10 years based on the average power the battery contributes to the grid during critical periods.
- Additional incentives for eligible small businesses, critical facilities, customers replacing fossil fuel generators and customers in outage-prone Grid Edge areas.
As an example, a healthcare facility in Connecticut projected $186,000 in on-bill savings in the first year after installing a battery through CPower. Importantly, these on-bill savings are in addition to the performance incentives paid by utilities and grid operators.
CPower has the largest dollar amount of C&I projects in the Energy Storage Solutions queue in Connecticut. It also leads all contractors in C&I projects underway. All told, CPower has more than 100 MW of C&I battery projects in the design phase across New England.
CPower provides OnDemand Energy Storage solutions for customers in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts. In working with CPower as an energy-storage-as-a-service (ESaaS) provider, New England facilities can reap energy storage benefits such as on-bill savings and grid services revenue without the upfront costs or responsibilities of ownership.
CPower will design, install and operate a battery on an organization’s behalf — and cover all upfront costs, thereby allowing C&I customers to avoid the interconnection engineering, capital investment and O&M responsibilities associated with a battery project.
Energy Storage Solutions projects done by CPower provide customers in Connecticut with a path to more affordable, resilient and greener energy.
To learn more about CPower’s energy storage services, call us at 844-276-9371 or visit CPowerEnergy.com/contact.
Philip Ciulla
As Account Executive for New England for CPower, customers and team members alike look to Phil as a knowledgeable and trusted partner. For Phil, the feeling is definitely mutual. Born and raised in California, Phil now lives in New England.
CPower at Microgrid Knowledge 2023
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CPower Awarded 2022 Green Bank Award, Recognized as Early Adopter for Energy Storage Solutions
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DER Monetization the Key to Enabling the Energy Transition
When the grid is stressed, would you rather turn on a fossil-fuel-powered peaker plant or tap into existing resources to reduce our electricity consumption? For us, it’s a simple choice for the community and our planet.
The Customer-Powered Grid™ is the answer. In aggregating customers’ distributed energy resources (DERs) and collectively using them to help the grid when and where it’s needed the most, we can create a flexible, clean and dependable future.
Peaker plants are major emitters of greenhouse gases and have a negative impact on air quality and public health. By leveraging DERs that are already available, like demand response, we can help reduce carbon emissions and other pollutants to help mitigate the impacts of climate change.
DERs Counter Climate Change Impact
Customers recognize the potential of DERs, which are assets or devices that consume, store or generate power and can respond to a signal, as well. Sustainability is the second-most-common reason for implementing DERs, with one in three customers citing it as a motivation, according to CPower’s 2023 Customer-Powered Grid Survey.
The grid needs more clean energy, which DERs can supply reliably and affordably, and that need for flexibility is growing:
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- Annual additions of renewable power capacity globally must grow three times the current level by 2030 to limit global warming to 1.5°C or less per the Paris Agreement, according to the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). This would require investing $35 trillion in energy transition technologies worldwide by 2030, IRENA estimates.
- The clean energy transition must accelerate for the U.S. to avoid the worst climate impacts, according to the Business Council for Sustainable Energy (BCSE), which noted that 2022 was the third most costly climate disaster year on record with 18 climate-related disasters causing at least $1 billion in damage each. The country needs modernized and expanded infrastructure to accelerate the deployment of clean energy and energy efficiency solutions, BCSE says.
- The U.S. is only halfway to its emissions reduction goal for 2025 and slightly more than a quarter to its target for 2030. It must double the share of electricity generated by non-carbon-emitting sources by 2030 to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
We won’t be able to ensure grid stability through this rapid transition and beyond without DERs. DERs such as demand response and energy efficiency support greater deployments of clean, renewable energy resources by filling gaps in variable generation. Given their flexibility, DERs can quickly respond to changing grid needs at any time, like if renewable generation unexpectedly drops due to a decrease in the availability of sun, wind or gas.
DERs also reduce the need to build new generation capacity, which is crucial because we must quickly replace coal-fired power plants like the peaker plants that have historically provided flexibility to the grid. The U.S. is on track to close half of its coal generation capacity by 2026 and cut coal consumption by the power sector in half by 2030, all of which could affect the stability of the grid.
CPower envisions a flexible, clean and dependable energy future enabled by The Customer-Powered Grid™.
DER Monetization Supports Sustainability.
Energy users benefit from investing in DERs and by monetizing them through grid services. More than 88% of CPower customers say that DER Monetization has helped their business. In addition to saving money by curtailing their loads when the grid is stressed, these energy users can take the revenue generated from their participation in wholesale market or utility grid programs to improve or invest in operational or sustainability initiatives for their organization.
Energy users are also under significant pressure to reduce emissions, make ESG investments and counter the impacts of climate change. DER Monetization helps an organization achieve its clean energy goals by allowing it to use less electricity and reduce associated emissions.
We are proud to have helped our customers avoid more than 280,000 metric tons of CO2, equivalent to not burning more than 317 million pounds of coal, in a single year alone. We know that the work we do is essential in making our vision of a flexible, clean and dependable energy future enabled by The Customer-Powered Grid a reality.
This year, we are also supporting sustainability as an organization through our internal initiatives as well as by donating to EarthDay.org, whose mission is to diversify, educate and activate the environmental movement worldwide.
Clean energy commitments by companies — and the pressure others face to keep up — are becoming watershed moments for the energy transition. From technology and manufacturing companies to real estate and big-box retailers, companies are committing to decarbonization.
By investing in clean energy, using less electricity and participating in utility and energy market grid services, energy users can help fill the role now played by gas generators from central systems. That is, why burn fuel to power a peaker plant when you can use DERs to balance the grid when it’s stressed?
The answer is obvious to us. How about you?
Join us on the journey to the Customer-Powered Grid — and the flexible, clean and dependable energy future that it will enable. Call us at 844-276-9371 or visit CPowerEnergy.com/contact to learn how we can help you most effectively invest in DERs to support sustainability, improve grid reliability and increase energy resiliency.
Shelley Schopp
As Senior Vice President, Customer Fulfillment & Human Resources, Shelley leads CPower’s Operations team. With over 25 years of experience in the energy industry, she helps the company share its collective wisdom through every touchpoint CPower offers.
Grid Reliability a Growing Concern: Customer-Powered GridTM Survey
Grid reliability has become one of the primary reasons that energy users participate in distributed energy resources (DER) monetization, ranking among the top three motivators for the first time in CPower’s annual Customer-Powered Grid™ Survey.
Nearly half (45%) of the almost 500 customers and partners surveyed cited supporting grid reliability as motivation for participating in grid services. Only generating revenue (60%) and reducing energy costs (56%) were cited more often.
Energy users worry about grid disruptions and scarcity events caused by factors such as more power outages from extreme weather and shifting demand patterns due to electrification and other issues.
Electricity peak demand and energy growth rates in North America are both increasing, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation warned in its most recent long-term reliability assessment, noting that the 10-year summer and winter peak demand growth projections showed the largest percentage increase in recent years.
Customers can help balance the grid when and where it’s needed the most through grid services programs that pay them for using less electricity when the grid is stressed.
More than 88% of the CPower customers survey confirmed that DER monetization has helped their business as well. Customers often use the revenue generated from their participation in wholesale market or utility grid programs to improve or invest in operational or sustainability initiatives for their organization.
Sustainability was the second largest motivation for implementing DERs (36%), followed by energy resiliency (31%). By using DERs for themselves and monetizing them through grid services, customers can improve operational reliability while contributing to a cleaner and more reliable energy grid for their community.
To learn more about how DER monetization supports grid reliability and improves energy resiliency, call us at 844-276-9371 or visit CPowerEnergy.com/contact.
Glenn Bogarde
Since becoming CPower’s Senior Vice President of Sales and Marketing, Glenn has led the company’s sales team on a nationwide mission to help customers get the most from their DER monetization participation. Glenn brings to CPower more than 20 years of sales experience in the enterprise software and energy industries.