Small Grants Help to Boost Peak Demand Savings in California: Implementation and Program Administration of the California Energy Commission’s Innovative Peak Load Reduction Small Grants Program

Karin Corfee, XENERGY, Inc.

Keywords

Abstract

In the wake of the California energy crisis, the California Energy Commission (CEC) launched a variety of peak load reduction programs with the objective of rapidly achieving demand savings to avoid blackouts. One of the more successful programs was the Innovative Peak Load Reduction Program (IPLRP). This paper presents an overview of the Small Grants Program component of the IPLRP.

The CEC outsourced program administration of the Small Grants Program to XENERGY. The IPLRP small grants were initially set aside for projects that ranged in size from 20 to 400 kW in peak demand savings. With an initial $10 million budget for small grants, the CEC increased funding to $14 million in response to the success of the program. With the additional $4 million in funding and close of the large grants portion of the IPLRP, the small grants program began to accept applications for large projects with peak savings greater than 400 kW. In less than a year, more than 330 applications were received and 183 Grant Agreements had been processed representing projects with more than 35 MW in potential peak demand savings. Program participants represented a variety of different business types and geographic locations throughout California.

This paper provides an overview of the Small Grants Program and reviews program design, marketing, characterization of the applicant pool and proposed peak reduction measures, and the estimated program accomplishments. Additionally, it reviews lessons learned from administering a program of this magnitude on a statewide basis. Lessons learned from the small grant program can help to shape future programs targeted at the nonresidential sector.