Wabash Valley Power Goes Live with Demand Response Management System

April 12, 2012
Wabash Valley Power Association is the first customer to go live with the Siemens Demand Response Management System (DRMS) solution.

Wabash Valley Power Association (Indiana) is the first customer to go live with the Siemens Demand Response Management System solution. Siemens DRMS provides WVPA the ability to shed load across multiple distribution systems using several different demand response programs, verify load shed, calculate baselines, and automate customer billing and settlement without cumbersome processes that previously required multiple spreadsheets for calculation. Siemens also implemented eMeter EnergyIP meter data management system (MDMS) platform for WVPA in 2011. The systems are successfully integrated, allowing for all data to be passed to and from both systems.

WVPA's previous software solution employed several legacy technologies involving a one-way communications technology that sent load reduction commands to residential water heaters, air conditioners and field irrigators with no way of verifying actual load reduction. The Siemens DRMS platform allows WVPA to use the Advanced Metering Infrastructure networks deployed at their member distribution cooperatives with eMeter EnergyIP to create a solution that uses bi-directional communication for real-time load reductions and timely measurement and verification of demand response events. The robust Validation, Estimation and Editing (VEE) functionality in the MDMS ensures the data shared between the systems is current and accurate, which is essential for customer billing, settlements and managing operations.

"For WVPA, demand response provides us the ability to avoid the need to purchase future peaking power plants thus reducing costs. The Siemens DRMS allows WVPA to create, manage and enroll end-use consumers into demand response programs," said Andrew Horstman, manager of Load Response at WVPA. "Because demand response has value in the MISO and PJM market it can offset the need for new peaking power generation and can be a cost-effective way to reduce the need to purchase expensive power from the market. Our demand response programs and systems will help to avoid higher costs for our members and will be utilized as another asset in our power supply portfolio."

Siemens DRMS will calculate baseline load curves via data collected from roughly 400 substations across 26 Member distribution cooperatives. This will allow WVPA to schedule load shed events in several ways and validate that the load shed has occurred, while tracking actual kW of load shed from a granular level of a single program participant to distribution substations and up to as many substations as necessary.

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