Integrating Public Health and Environmental Protection into Demand Response Programs

Anna Garcia, Tracey Bailer, Miles Keogh, and Brian Castelli, Center for Energy and Climate Solutions

Keywords

Abstract

Electric system reliability has taken center stage recently due to high levels of electricity supply uncertainty, with power interruptions, brownouts, and requests for voluntary curtailment more prevalent. Reliability concerns and electricity prices have led to the development of several demand response programs, particularly in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic and California.

These programs have realized some success in reducing peak electricity load and providing reliability; however, most of them have lacked much needed policies to reduce public health effects and environmental impacts from the proliferation of high-emitting backup generation. Future demand response programs must incorporate a public health/environmental component into program designs in an attempt to encourage energy efficiency and reliability consistent with air quality goals.

A more comprehensive version of this paper was prepared for the Ozone Transport Commission (OTC), the National Association of State Energy Officials, (NASEO) and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissioners (NARUC). It lays the groundwork for investigating and developing a more environmentally-friendly design for demand response programs. It reviews recent demand response programs in the northeastern states and California that incorporated different kinds of load and demand strategies to enhance reliability, yet have not focused on environmental impacts. It further proposes to create a new demand response model through a state pilot project to develop an environmentally-friendly program that emphasizes energy efficiency and innovative, clean distributed generation that will benefit the electricity provider and consumer in today’s markets, and can be replicated in states inside and outside of the northeast region.