Accomplishments
Client Background
University of Maryland, Baltimore.
In 2006, the State of Maryland adopted legislation - the State Buildings Energy Efficiency and Conservation Act - for the reduction of energy consumption throughout state buildings. The act stipulated a reduction of energy consumption by 5-percent in 2009 and 10-percent by 2010. Subsequently, regional businesses in the local Regional Transmission Organization (i.e., the Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland (PJM) Interconnection) received approval from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to develop additional energy efficiency programs.
All of this coincided with the development of energy efficiency programs by the University of Maryland, Baltimore (UMB). To reduce energy consumption on campus and find cost-effective ways to save energy and expenses, the university began working with the PJM Interconnection and Comverge, a leading clean capacity provider of demand response (DR) and energy efficiency programs.
"By serving as our curtailment service provider or broker in the PJM DR programs, Comverge facilitated the reduction of our peak demand and overall consumption, which ultimately helped reduce our carbon footprint and emission levels," said Michael Krone, PE utility operations manager for UMB. "Comverge provided the resources to monitor real-time market pricing, develop load profi les, and create customer baselines. Comverge's graphical tools have been invaluable to our success in the PJM DR programs."
Solution
UMB enrolled in Comverge's Real-Time Economic Load Response and Reliability Pricing Model (RPM) programs. These programs offered assistance from energy analysts and delivered load profi ling and IT support, consumption analytics and graphics, and other conservation initiatives. Along with furnishing the graphical tools that enabled UMB's success in the PJM DR programs, Comverge:
- Performed energy audits to identify energy savings.
- Completed on-site assessments.
- Provided 24/7/365 metering, system integration, and assistance from the Information & Command Center (ICC).
Some examples of the strategies that UMB and Comverge implemented for participation in the FERC-sponsored PJM DR programs include:
- Using an existing 20,000 ton-hour/2,000-ton output thermal storage system to shift air conditioning loads from daytime on-peak operation to nighttime off-peak operation.
- Remotely controlling lighting in public areas and turning off all non-essential lighting loads during periods of high demand.
- Switching lighting and HVAC loads in real time via remote control from occupancy sensors and the local building automation system.
- Temporarily raising HVAC return-air set points for 30 minutes or less to reduce cooling demand. As the level of thermal inertia for a building is typically 45 minutes or greater, this effort is transparent to the occupants.
- Placing a portion of chilled water production on a current limiting mode for 30-minute periods. To ensure this activity remains transparent to the building occupants, only a fraction of overall production is in conservation mode at any given time, and the operation shifts between production facilities.
- Remotely starting emergency and backup diesel-fi red generators.
Comverge worked closely with UMB facilities managers to offer technical support and up-to-date information on energy market prices and new energy conservation opportunities. UMB has a long-standing business relationship with Comverge and recently extended its contract for DR program support services. UMB is also looking to use Comverge to participate in the PJM Synchronized Reserve (SR) program. Similar to the real-time market and RPM programs, SR programs extend participation hours to evenings and weekends and will require additional technical support from Comverge's ICC.
Benefits
Through its participation in Comverge's Real-Time Economic Load Response and RPM programs, UMB has achieved extraordinary success. Since July 2006, UMB has reduced its load by more than 20 million kilowatt hours (kWh), or the equivalent of two months of electrical consumption or the power needed to supply 2 million homes with electricity.