Member Spotlight: Smart Grid Northwest
Date founded: 2009
Member rep: Stephan Williams
Website: smartgridnw.org
Smart Grid NW’s mission is to promote, grow and enable the smart grid industry and infrastructure in the Pacific Northwest. To fulfill this mission, Smart Grid NW engages in education and regulatory policy work and brings together technically knowledgeable vendors, utility operators and regulators to create a regional smart grid roadmap.
What is demand response?
Demand response refers to a variety of actions aimed at adjusting power use timing to reduce peaks in electricity demand and improve the reliability, efficiency and stability of the grid. Demand response is used in both the residential and industrial sectors.
Load control programs range from fully automated to fully manual on the customer side. The degree of automation depends on power volumes and system complexity. Residential demand response often can be automated, while industrial demand response may involve an engineer or other on-site employee turning off non-essential equipment.
Demand response workshops and symposiums
Demand response can help the region meet the goals laid out in the Northwest Power and Conservation Council’s 7thregional plan. The plan calls for achieving a minimum of 600 megawatts of cost-effective demand response, making it the second-largest new resource after efficiency called for in the plan.
To learn more about demand response, including automated demand response (ADR), we recommend attending Smart Grid NW’s upcoming Seattle workshops:
- Open ADR workshop, Sept. 27, 8 a.m. – 1 p.m.
- NW Demand Response Symposium, Sept. 28, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
