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Creating a Demand Response strategy for multiple facilities can seem like a daunting task, however, when you break it down on a facility by facility basis it can become an easily managed automated system that gets the job done easily.
The first step is taking inventory of the controllable electrical loads within each facility and working out what the overall reduction of load will be if you shed everything that you allocate to the the task. Each facility that you are including in the aggregated load profile will have a different type and quantity of load that can be shed, the total available across the board should be equal to your required load reduction (as specified in your DR contract) plus an appropriate buffer that you feel comfortable with. Once you know how much load you have and that it can be controlled when required, you can then move on to creating a load control strategy for each location.
Your load shed strategy can be as simple as flipping a switch and having everything you have allocated for shedding to turn off, but things are rarely that simple. Certain equipment must be shed in specific ways as to not damage the equipment, product or the environment in which it is operating. With this in mind we recommend that shedding of load in each facility be done in a staged format. For example you could create 3-5 blocks of shedding that are activated based on the amount of load that NEEDS to be shed to meet the DR target and the priorities that you want to assign to each load, IE: there may be certain loads that you don't want to shed until last or until you have no choice, these can be part of the final block of loads to be cut.
Some facilities that you have participating in your aggregation may have more load available for shedding than other facilities. Setting up priority levels and blocks of shedding for each facility can even out the amount to be cut from each facility while providing reserves for shedding should they be needed.
One of the benefits of setting up a load control strategy for each individual facility as well as the aggregated load is that with the proper Energy Mangement Software, each facility can minimize their peak demand and manage energy on an ongoing basis AND participate in the DR aggregation.
LCA Energy Management Solutions can provide you with the DR Energy Management you need to aggregated across multiple facilities and automatically control to ensure that targets are met. Reports are then generated to clearly show the economic benefits for each facility and the overall project based on each DR incident.
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