CPower Partners with WattTime to Supercharge Emissions-reduction Benefits of Demand Response

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Apr 22, 2021, 08:30 ET

BALTIMORE and OAKLAND, Calif., April 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, in recognition of the 51^st anniversary of Earth Day, CPower Energy Management ("CPower") and nonprofit WattTime jointly announced a partnership to evaluate and strengthen the emissions-reduction benefits of CPower's demand response solutions. CPower is a leading, national energy solutions provider that serves more than 1,700 commercial and industrial customers across more than 11,000 sites and manages more than 4 gigawatts (GW) of electricity load across North American utilities and energy markets. WattTime is the inventor of Automated Emissions Reduction (AER), software intelligence that allows utilities, IoT device and energy storage companies, and end users to shift the timing of flexible electricity use to sync with times of cleaner energy and avoid times of dirtier energy.

In 2020, CPower customers curtailed their grid demand in nearly 20,000 events spread across six independent system operator (ISO) regions, totaling 11.5 GWh of load reduction, when the grid needed it most. Based on WattTime analysis, this corresponded to an emissions reduction of nearly 7,000 metric tons CO₂ on average for demand response events. This is equivalent to eliminating the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with more than 7 million pounds of coal burned.

"In these cases, demand response was dispatched primarily for economic or grid reliability purposes. Even then, our analysis showed that CPower's load curtailment solutions achieved significant emissions reductions through reduced demand on high-emitting resources," explained Gavin McCormick, Executive Director of WattTime. "Looking forward, we're especially excited about what more is possible in partnership with CPower. For example, increasing demand response dispatch to include additional events based on a marginal GHG signal—versus purely an economic or grid reliability signal—could further increase emissions savings."

John Horton, President and CEO, CPower, added: "As a company, our demand-side management solutions span demand response, energy efficiency, distributed generation, energy storage, and peak load reduction. They all have roles to play decarbonizing power grids as part of the low-carbon energy transition. In partnership with WattTime, we'll be exploring how we can deliver even stronger emissions-reduction benefits to our customers throughout North America."

About CPower Energy Management
CPower Energy Management is a leading, national energy solutions provider guiding customers towards a clean and dependable energy future. We maximize the value of our customers' electricity loads, facility assets and distributed energy resources. With more than two decades of experience, we've grown to offer more than 50 local energy programs partnering with grid operators and utilities to more than 11,000 sites, delivering approximately 7,000 metric tons of CO2 reductions in 2020 alone. Our presence across North America allows us to manage more than 4.2 GW of customer capacity and provide energy to the grid when it's needed most. CPower is based in Baltimore, Maryland and is owned by LS Power, a development, investment and operating company focused on the power and energy infrastructure sector. For more information, visit: www.cpowerenergymanagement.com.

About WattTime
WattTime empowers global citizens—people, organizations, utilities, countries—to slash emissions and use cleaner energy. Founded by UC Berkeley researchers and now a subsidiary of RMI, we are a modern-day hybrid of an environmental nonprofit and cutting-edge software company. We research and develop data-driven tools that increase environmental and social good. We invented Automated Emissions Reduction (AER), software that allows IoT devices like smart thermostats and electric vehicles to effortlessly and automatically run on cleaner energy. We popularized emissionality, a technique to achieve greater avoided emissions from new renewable energy projects. And we co-founded the global coalition Climate TRACE, enabling more meaningful climate action by harnessing remote sensing and software intelligence to independently monitor human-caused GHG emissions in near real time. During the massive energy transition from a fossil-fueled past to a zero-carbon future, WattTime 'bends the curve' to realize deeper, faster emissions reductions that benefit people and planet.

SOURCE CPower Energy Management