New Report Sheds Light on Demand Side Response

Our colleagues at leading industry mag The Energyst have produced another excellent report on the latest ‘big thing’ in the energy arena The Energyst Demand Side Response Report 2015. Content Coms’ news analyst Becky Woodington summarises the key points.

Overview

One of the ways UK businesses can reduce energy costs is to adjust the amount of electricity used at particular times as part of a Demand Side Response scheme.

The National Grid has encouraged larger businesses to implement effective systems to reduce energy costs, with some helping to balance the grid through DSR (Demand Side-Response). However,

The National Grid now aims to increase in number of smaller businesses into this energy balancing scheme.

As part of The Energyst Demand Side Response Report 2015, 118 small and large businesses were surveyed across industrial, commercial and public sectors.

The DSR report concluded that…

• Of the businesses surveyed, one third of the respondents stated how they had participated in DSR programmes. Of those who have participated, 94% were satisfied with the outcome.

• Generating income other from energy intensive assets was found to be the main factor for businesses to participate in DSR programmes.

• Of the 33% of businesses that participated in DSR, roughly 67% turn on standby generators as part of their DSR strategy. In addition 63% turn off or decrease power consumption while 37% increase energy consumption. This highlights an overlap between DSR strategies within businesses.

• Another statistic showed how one of the key factors for implementing growth of DSR was found to be the transition to renewable energy sources. This was followed by fears over security of supply (figure 1).

Figure 1 – Shows the factors businesses believe are important for driving the growth of DSR

• 67% of businesses found to implement DSR through their organisation do so through an aggregator with a further 23% interacting with The National Grid directly.

• However, of the businesses that had not considered DSR, 46% stated how their equipment/processes were not suitable. A further 27% raised concern about the disruption and impact on business performance.

• The report has stated how 81% of small and large business would potentially use the revenue made from the DSR to either offset energy bills or fund energy efficiency initiatives (figure 2).

Figure 2 – Shows how businesses would use the revenue from DSR.

You can download and view a full copy of this report here: The Energyst Demand Side Response Report 2015.