Challenge Discussed : Some of the key challenges the utility industry faces today are falling revenues, rising emissions and redundant customer engagement strategies. So what’s the silver bullet utilities need to address these challenges posed by the industry?

Speaker : Naren Pasupalati

Key Takeaways :

Demand Response: Demand Response is a strategy adopted by utilities that temporarily changes the final electricity consumption by Demand Resources in response to market supply or reliability conditions

If utilities fail to leverage the opportunities provided by Demand Response strategies, they would have to continue to invest in expensive peaker plants that function for just a fraction of time in a year (mainly during peak events) and would otherwise be shut. This would cause unnecessary costs to the utility that would be eventually transferred to the customer in the form of high tariffs. Also with peaker plants mainly fossil fuel dependent, it would also significantly add to the country’s stock of emissions.

So by adopting a relatively inexpensive technology solution such as DR, utilities can mitigate large infrastructure expenditure and improve customer engagement by creating avenues for cost savings.

Based on our research, the North American region is the largest market for DR programs in the world closely followed by Europe. However, the APAC region, driven by rapid smart meter deployment, is considered an emerging high growth market. 

The research also looks at growth opportunities such as the electrification of transportation and blockchain. For e.g. Electric vehicles are increasingly leveraged as a key DR resource. Several service providers are beginning to integrate V2G and DR strategies that help stabilize emergency peak demand events.

The research also explores how demand response strategies can leverage blockchain technology to address energy demands at peak events. Blockchain-based DR solutions that will enhance real-time event validation, financial settlements and will ultimately determine the success of DR programs of the future

On that note, I hope you enjoyed this session.

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