Demand response programmes and power loss detection benefits
Trilliant solutions empower utility customers to conserve energy.
In order to maintain enough power generation capability to serve the energy needs of all customers, particularly during the hottest summer and coldest winter days, many utilities offer innovative energy efficiency and demand response (DR) programmes to help customers use energy more wisely, writes Greg Myers, VP, Global Product Management @ Trilliant Networks, Inc.
Customers who subscribe to these DR programmes commit to reducing power consumption in peak hours for a financial incentive and lower electric bills.
While helping customers reduce costs, these programmes can decrease peak demand for electricity by thousands of MW and help eliminate the need to build costly peak generation plants.
Utilities are looking for ways to improve their DR programmes so they can increase grid reliability, keep costs down for consumers and generate new revenue sources.
The rapid growth of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) that contribute to available energy on the grid adds a dimension that needs to be factored in when making load reduction decisions.
Trilliant provides solutions that enable utilities to lower peak demands by empowering customers to play a role in conserving energy.
Our continued collaboration with utility customers – from helping them understand best practices for advanced metering infrastructure (AMI), to planning for the future – enables us to provide an industry-leading DR platform that supports the energy transition.
We work with utilities worldwide to provide solutions that address their unique needs. Most recently, we worked with an energy provider in the US to integrate and enhance their DR schemes among their regional utilities. In this case, our application helps the provider track in near real-time the power consumption of customers, as well as their DERs.
Our DR solution, part of Prime Energy Suite, is highly scalable and configurable. It includes our platform that enables meter data collection, alarms and notifications, energy balances, demand response, data management and outage monitoring.
A few of the benefits of our solution:
- Monitors energy assets, providing the utility with the knowledge of how much load is at their
disposal and direct control of those assets. - Enables the aggregation of DERs, such as solar panels or energy assets that export power into the
energy distribution grid, to balance and optimise energy on the grid. - Supports 300+ residential, commercial and industrial meter models via our vendor-neutral platform.
Collects data from smart meters on-site or remotely. - Tracks consumer energy usage, evaluates requirements, performs measurement management for
improved decision-making.
While DR and DERs are beneficial for utilities and their customers and help increase reliability and balance grid load, power loss is still a possibility – and energy providers need to be prepared.
As part of our suite of offerings, Trilliant works with utilities to enhance power loss detection capabilities, providing advanced insights before outages happen. This proactive approach has helped reduce response times significantly, minimising disruptions across critical infrastructures, including airports and hospitals.
In the case of the US utility mentioned above, our Power Loss Detection tool helps identify and validate when there are incidents corresponding to low voltages and partial or total outages. It provides timely notifications to the utility to ensure any issue that is detected can be addressed immediately.
Dashboards provide insights related to alarms and blackouts present in the meters so utilities can monitor a situation and manage any incidents proactively.
While it’s impossible to predict the future, it’s important to work with a trusted advisor who can help you be as proactive as possible.
When it comes to managing the grid and supporting consumers with tools to manage their energy consumption, there are many factors to consider. Every utility is in a unique position; some are further along with their AMI journey, for example. Each utility has specific requirements and issues they are planning to address.
Trilliant is proud of the way we work with electric, gas and water utilities to support them with tailored, device-agnostic solutions to address not only their current needs, but also their requirements for the future – no matter what that might look like.
Learn more about Prime Energy Suite, our industry-leading platform. Contact info@trilliant.com with questions about how leveraging data and the right tools can help you and your customers.
About the company:
Trilliant is proud of a 30+ year history serving the world’s energy companies, utilities, and smart cities – securely, sustainably, reliably. We are passionate about delivering mission-critical solutions to our customers. Designed to offer The Power of Choice, our flexible, multi-tiered platform is device-agnostic, and drives optimal endpoints and outcomes.
