Bringing together Boston's CleanTech news and events

There is a booming solar industry in New England, due largely to aggressive state and federal incentives and also rapidly declining hardware costs. Despite a shifting economic climate, the solar industry has outgrown available incentives in many states, and policy makers are working to identify new and creative ways to continue supporting this burgeoning industry. Massachusetts and Vermont are in the process of implementing new and unique solar support mechanisms, with Connecticut not far behind. Maine, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island are also thinking more seriously about solar energy and the economic development potential it can provide.

This EBC Energy Seminar will provide a regional update on existing and proposed state solar support mechanisms. Industry experts will highlight markets in which they see the largest opportunities for growth and challenges to success. A representative from Massachusetts will outline the state’s recently announced solar support strategy. In addition to available incentives, project finance is a key driver for project success and will be a primary topic of discussion. Finally, a regional sales expert will participate and discuss market demand and sentiment.

Registration: 7:30am - 8:00am
Program: 8:00am - 12:00pm

Registration fees:

EBC and Co-Hosting Member Company     $110*
Non Member Company                               $150*
Government/Non-profit                              $40*
Job Seeker                                                 $25
Young Environmental Professional Rate     $25
EBC Members who have worked in their field for less than ten years are considered Young Environmental Professionals.  Five tickets available for members only.

After February 3rd and at the door add $40

REGISTER NOW!

LINK
Overview
A well-known challenge facing system operators on the electric grid is being able to generate enough megawatts to meet peak electricity demand. As the peak electricity demand grows, the traditional way to continue to meet the peak is to build more power plants. Instead of building more generation, an alternative strategy is to slow or prevent the growth of the peak electricity demand via demand side management. One of the many demand-side strategies for managing peak electricity demand is demand response, which targets electricity reductions during the peak hours via responses from all types of consumers. Some programs focus on securing large reductions of electricity usage from commercial and industrial consumers when called upon by the system operator. Other strategies include implementing time-varying pricing for all consumers, including residential consumers. We will discuss the pros and cons of these and other demand response strategies and the tradeoffs facing the different stakeholders when implementing these strategies as a means of producing ?negawatts? instead of megawatts during the peak hours of electricity demand. Please prepare for the discussion by reading the articles provided on the event website. Refreshments will be served.
Key Questions

What are the challenges with implementing and verifying the effectiveness of demand response programs…

• from the utility’s point of view?
• from the consumer’s point of view?
• from the regulator’s point of view?

 When paying a consumer for a reduction in electricity usage during peak hours, how do you estimate ‘business as usual’ for that day (i.e. their baseline) when what they actually do is definitely not business as usual?  One important extension of this is how do you ensure that consumers who respond to a demand response event are paid fairly for their actions while also ensuring that the grid operator is not overpaying for the reduction provided?