Demand Response and Energy Storage

On February 25, 2009, the Alliance welcomed Mark MacCracken, CEO of CALMAC Manufacturing Corporation, and David Ellis, senior vice president of Business Development of Comverge, Inc., as guest speakers for the EE Noon brownbag series.

Addressing a group of engineers, consultants, executives and other energy professionals representing both the public and private sectors, MacCracken and Ellis discussed challenges and approaches to mitigating peak demand, ensuring energy reliability and reducing costs.

"Storage is nature's way of balancing supply and demand," MacCracken asserted as he kicked off his presentation on off-peak thermal energy storage, and cool energy storage in particular.

By employing technologies that shift energy usage from day to night, when demand for electricity is lowest, energy storage lowers peak demand at times of high-intensity energy consumption during the day; it also reduces the costs, emissions and inefficiency associated with generating electricity at peak.

Ellis continued the discussion by offering a broader demand response perspective: implementing demand responsive load management systems, such as smart grid digital technology, helps utilities manage demand, flatten spikes and avoid energy inefficiency and failure.

Each presentation highlighted the important role of energy efficient technologies, renewable energy and storage mechanisms in addressing peak problems—issues which have become normal occurrences because of the way that our energy infrastructure has sometimes failed to meet growing energy demand.