PacifiCorp demonstrated that Demand Response (DR) resources can be used to deliver GridScale Fast DR to meet frequency dispatch and BAL 3 requirements. This project demonstrated that the Cool Keeper system could be used in an additional capacity with very tight control response. PacifiCorp designed and implemented the automatic dispatch of residential customers enrolled in the Rocky Mountain Power Cool Keeper program utilizing Eaton’s two-way devices and Yukon portal to respond to frequency dispatch signals. To comply as frequency dispatch, the resources must immediately begin providing support once dispatched and be fully activated within 50 seconds from event detection. The BAL 3 measurement is a performance curve during this resource dispatch period. The solution resulted in an average of 64 MW of BAL 3 resources and over 100 MW of load drop across several events during the 2018 summer DR control season. Performance was measured and calculated using two second system metered data collected by the PacifiCorp Energy Management System.

This innovation is a grid scale solution using fast-acting residential DR resources to support the bulk power system. Utilities currently use generating resources to perform this function, but as plants are retired or begin operating at lower levels additional balancing resources are required. The Cool Keeper system provides approximately 200 MW of operating reserves to the system using over ~ 100,000 residential AC resources.