Participating in our demand response program earned Primo Brands' bottled water facility big savings – along with a day at the beach.
Growing demand for demand response
In Current, we recently featured ways that our demand response for business program can help industrial and large commercial customers.
We looked at how adding battery storage to your facility allows you to automatically supplement your usage during demand response events, thanks to our Distributed Energy Resource Management System (DERMS) software.
We also saw how Okanagan Spring's brewery in Vernon earned incentives by reducing load during peak demand periods last winter. As a result of participating in the program, they saw a 55% reduction in peak power consumption and identified two project opportunities for long-term savings.
Primo Brands reduce usage and increase morale
Some customers are also seeing significant results during the summer, including Primo Brands (formerly known as Blue Triton) in Hope. Primo Brands is a leading North American branded beverage company with more than 50 facilities producing well-known brands like Pure Life, Poland Springs, and Saratoga.
Max Stack manages their 100,000-square-foot facility in Hope, where they produce Pure Life bottled water in a variety of sizes. "I'll be honest, I wasn't convinced about demand response events at first," says Max. "But when Kevin, our Key Account Manager, walked me through it, I began to see how it could make total sense in the height of summer. Even though our product was in huge demand at that time, the factory was also overheating, and everyone wanted some respite, so we decided to try a couple of events."
Primo Brands has two production lines and shut one of them down for the events. "Some of our team used the free time to go to the beach, while others stayed and worked on other tasks, it turned out better than we expected."
Here's how much Primo Brands saved in just two events:
| kW demand reduction | Reduction against baseline | |
|---|---|---|
| Event 1 | 579 kW | 47% |
| Event 2 | 620 kW | 51% |
| Event average | 600 kW | 50% |
Paul Seo, senior program manager at BC Hydro, explains how these reductions are evaluated: "We measure demand in kilowatts (kW) and consumption in kilowatt hours (kWh). Primo Brands' average reduction was 600 kW, which even during the summer, is a lot. In four hours, they reduced consumption by 2,400 kWh. For comparison, an average home consumes about 11,000 kWh in a year – so there are some serious savings to be made."
"These stories highlight the two sides of demand response," says Paul. "There's a technical side – which is adding battery storage to your facility. And there's a behavioural side – which is what we saw with Primo Brands and Okanagan Spring reducing their usage by simply changing some of their operations."
"We can call up to 20 events per season based on periods of very high demand on the grid. So, when you've registered for the program, we'll call demand response events and ask you to shift or reduce your usage for up to four hours."
The more you reduce, the more you earn
If you can shift or reduce at least 5% of your typical electricity, you'll earn $50 per average kilowatt (kW) demand reduction at the end of the season's events. Based on where your facility is located, a higher incentive may be available. The incentive is based on your average kW reduction during the season's events. So, the more energy you reduce or shift, the more money you can earn.
Demand response events take place during our winter season (November 1 to March 30) and our summer season (June 1 to September 30). You can register for our winter events regardless of where your facility is located. But summer season events are only available for select regions where electricity use peaks in the summer.
"If you're located in one of these select regions, you can enroll for summer, winter, or both," says Paul. "Right now, the winter is where we see the highest demand on the grid, but we're also testing our highest peaking areas during the summer to see what results we can get."
Max Stack is excited to join more demand response events moving forward: "It almost seemed too good to be true," he says. "The financial piece is great. But to me, the morale boost was the greatest thing that I've seen come out of it, with staff being able to go out and enjoy the hottest part of the day."
So, what do our customers love about demand response events? "There are two things we know that customers really find appealing," says Paul Seo. "Firstly, it's risk-free. It's a pay for performance model, not a penalty for non-performance. Customers can opt out of 40% of all the events and still be eligible for a rebate or an incentive. Secondly, it's the incentive itself, which can be quite sizable depending on how big your usage reduction is. Demand response is one of the simplest – and cheapest – ways to reduce or reshape your usage and lower your costs."
How could demand response help you?
To find out more about registering for demand response for business and how it might help your organization, contact your Key Account Manager or Regional Energy Manager, or email demand.response@bchydro.com.