The way we use electricity is changing and businesses
across the country are increasingly focusing on optimising
energy use and decreasing their carbon footprint. One way
to achieve each of these objectives is by participating in
demand side management (DSM), as Marina Hod, market
development director at KiWi Power explains

DSM enables businesses to reduce
their consumption from the grid at
peak demand times and get paid by
National Grid for doing so. In this way,
companies can earn a significant recurring
revenue stream, gain visibility into their real
time energy use, improve emergency
preparedness and decrease their carbon
footprint. In order to obtain optimum value
from working with demand response
aggregators there are a number of best
practices that should be considered.

Optimise your generator Typically, a standby generator provides
electricity for a site in instances when a mains
supply has failed. These assets are rarely used
due to historically high levels of grid reliability.

Like a car engine, generators require frequent
use to keep them working efficiently. To ensure
emergency preparedness, it is recommended
that generators are run at least once a month.

Generators are often tested ‘off-load’,
which can cause poor combustion, soot
formation, clogging of injector rings and
unburnt fuel creating oil contamination.

Demand response allows standby generators
to be tested ‘on-load’ and at no cost, making
it a useful way to prove engine resilience and
optimise performance. Generators are most
valuable in demand response programmes
where they are able to synchronise with the
mains grid supply because they can support
significant site electrical loads.

Lister Hospital is an acute NHS-run
hospital in Hertfordshire that is currently
participating in a demand response
programme. To ensure the hospital has a
reliable standby power solution in the event
of a power failure, it installed new on-site
generators and duplicate electricity feed. The
generators enable the hospital to take part in
a demand response programme, which will
help save money on utility bills and create a
new revenue stream.

KiWi Power installed four 2MVA, LV
diesel generators, which provide full backup
for the new 5MVA, duplicate 11kV feed from
UK Power Networks. It also implemented a
system for controlling these generators
remotely from its control centre in London,
and integrated this with the hospital’s
SCADA and PLC systems. KiWi Power can
now monitor the status of all four generators
at all times and inform the hospital’s facilities
managers should any problems arise.

Technical audit Working with site staff to understand the
normal operating conditions of the facility is
key to implementing a successful demand
response programme. A technical audit may
be conducted free of charge in order to
understand the site’s operations and create a
bespoke demand management strategy (DMS).

Typically, a DMS encompasses non-critical
and non-essential systems such as HVAC
(heating, ventilation, and air conditioning),
lighting, certain manufacturing processes,
refrigeration plants and backup generators.

Where possible, DMS should be automated
to minimise non-performance risk, using
industry standard control and monitoring
systems. Automation helps simplify
participation and minimises resource
requirement from sites. Automation also
allows DMS to be initiated remotely and
operations to be returned to normal after a
demand response event.

An existing 2MW generator was identified
for a demand response programme at a large
steel facility in Scunthorpe and benefited
from a thorough technical site audit and
survey report. A testing, commissioning and
training programme was implemented,
which allowed a technical and commercial
proposal to be submitted to the steel
company’s management team.

Stakeholder management
There are often multiple stakeholders within
an organisation who must first be consulted
when discussing the benefits of a demand
response programme. These may include a
finance director, facilities/sustainability/
energy managers, engineers and procurement
departments. Achieving stakeholder buy-in
can be challenging, particularly with
businesses spread across multiple sites, where
each one may be autonomous and have
individual operational requirements.

Sainsbury’s is an example of a company
overcoming such challenges. While a central
coordinator leads the supermarket’s
participation internally, each site has a
bespoke demand reduction strategy and has
the final decision on how much demand
response to take up. Sainsbury’s opted for a
pilot scheme in two of its distribution
centres. The success of this has led to a full
roll out of demand response to the rest of its
distribution centres. The next step may be to
introduce demand response at store level.

Conclusion Working with a demand response aggregator,
such as KiWi Power, can help ensure that
businesses realise the full value of demand
response participation. Following best
practices, such as those highlighted above, and
use of the latest technology, aggregators are
able to help unlock revenues
from various types of demand
response programmes
currently available. Nonessential
services and
processes can be identified to
allow participation in
demand response through
comprehensive energy
audits and by using existing
or new standby power
generation assets to provide
optimum operational
efficiency and
performance.