Demand response has played a growing role in the Northwest power system over recent years, and its future potential is significantly larger than it has been in the past. The Council’s 2021 Power Plan identified low-cost and frequently deployable demand response as a key part of the plan’s cost-effective resource strategy that assures the Northwest of an adequate, efficient, economical, and reliable power supply. Council power planners are currently evaluating the role demand response could play in the Northwest electricity grid over the next 20 years, as they work on developing the Ninth Power Plan’s resource strategy.
Demand response is defined as the voluntary and temporary reduction in consumers’ use of electricity when the power system is stressed (full definition below). Compensating customers for directly or indirectly adjusting consumption during peak can serve as an alternative to peaking generating resources and defer the need for transmission and distribution upgrades.
Above chart: Illustrative daily load shape showing the effect of a demand response (DR) program. The blue curve represents baseline electricity demand without any DR actions, while the orange curve shows how targeted load shifting reduces the late-afternoon system peak and shifts some consumption to lower-cost, lower-stress hours. The shaded regions highlight periods of load reduction and load increase and rebound associated with DR participation
Demand response has been used in the Northwest for decades, but its potential today is significantly larger than in the past. In the past, DR was largely limited to large industrial customers who could curtail sizable loads on command or isolated programs that curtail end use equipment briefly. Advances in connectivity and automation – such as smart thermostats, EV chargers, and grid-interactive water heaters – have expanded demand response capability to new customers. For example, Washington and Oregon have both recently developed standards requiring all new electric water heaters to have a modular communications port that can enable demand response communication. As these technologies become more widely adopted, they can enable faster, more flexible, and more widespread load management across the entire power system.
The 2021 Power Plan found that low-cost and frequently deployed demand response can offset needs during peaking and ramping periods and reduce power system emissions. Our assessment showed about 520 megawatts of demand voltage regulation and 200 megawatts from time of use programs could be available by 2027. Both of these products could meet the needs found in the plan. The plan also highlighted operational flexibility as a key priority going forward as renewable energy build-out increases in the Northwest.
Full “demand response” definition:
Demand response is a non-persistent intentional change in net electricity usage by end-use customers from normal consumptive patterns in response to a request on behalf of, or by, a power and/or distribution/transmission system operator. This change is driven by an agreement, potentially financial, or tariff between two or more participating parties. (Updated 2017)