New software for when energy demand requires response

One of the players in the demand response technology arena, EnergyConnect Group, has released a new energy management platform for commercial, institutional and industrial customers.

The software, called GridConnect, is a dashboard-driven application that lets businesses monitor their energy consumption -- along with opportunities to reduce or otherwise manage their energy costs. The software connects with EnergyConnect's existing services, including its FlexConnect demand response offering.

The idea, EnergyConnect suggests, is to make it easier for businesses to take advantage of demand response event opportunities by using advanced metering systems and other integrated technologies that are emerging along with the smart grid.

EnergyConnect points to data from the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) that suggests basic demand response programs alone reduce peak demand by 38 gigawatts; but by extending the reach of these programs deeper into the commercial sector through information technology, the potential demand response marketplace could grow by more than 100 gigawatts by 2019.

Here's a comment about the potential impact of GridConnect from one of EnergyConnect's customers, Paul Nowicki, manager of facilities and manufacturing engineering of Knoll:

"When I log in to GridConnect, the new dashboard offers a complete snapshot of contextual information about our energy use and demand response opportunities. Through a single Web link, we can now monitor performance in dispatchable demand response events as well as optimize participation in the price-response demand markets, thereby reducing our costs and increasing our overall contribution to grid reliability."