The Commonwealth of Virginia has entered into a contract with EnergyConnect, of Portland, Ore., that will ease the strain on Virginia’s electricity grid and improve its reliability. According to a press release from the Governor’s office, the program will reduce the need for Virginia electrical utilities to build additional generating plants, transmission, and distribution lines.
As a bonus, the contract contains provisions that could allow state agencies to reap $10 million a year in incentives to curtail demand.
As a “Curtailment Services Provider,” EnergyConnect will work with state agencies, electric utilities, and the PJM regional transmission organization to reduce the electric load during periods of peak demand. How so? That’s not entirely clear from the descriptions provided, but here what the EnergyConnect website says:
EnergyConnect, Inc. unlocks the potential of intelligent building automation control systems and communication networks by enabling its participants to participate directly in wholesale energy markets. EnergyConnect extracts significant economies by fully integrating energy use with energy supply and delivery.
Pretty vague. Presumably, there’s a lot of proprietary knowledge involved that EnergyConnect doesn’t want to spell out.
Regardless, the Kaine administration deserves kudos for pursuing this initiative. Conceptually, it sounds like a good idea. If successful, it could provide a conservation template for other large industrial and commercial users in Virginia. “Virginia’s Energy Plan recommends that the state government lead by example,” Kaine said in the press release. “This contract does exactly that.”