Tucson Electric Power, a subsidiary of UNS Energy, is taking a significant step to integrate various smart devices meet the energy demands of our territory. The Tucson, AZ based utility, is releasing a global Request for Information (RFI) that will help in the development of a future Request for Proposal (RFP) that will incorporate demand response, load shifting/shaping capabilities for our residential sector, with the potential for future exploration in our commercial space.

The RFI will inform the design of our load management initiatives, including the ability to respond to peak demand and provide greater customer energy efficiency savings.

The information obtained through the RFI process will help TEP seek a partner or partners through a future request for proposal process to implement the pilot program, and share learnings with our team members.

Key Dates for the RFI:

CLICK HERE to read the full RFP.

Though much of the electric-power industry has begun paying close attention to the importance of load shifting and demand response in recent years, Central Electric Power Cooperative, Inc. (CEPCI), has been focused on their benefits for decades. Based in Columbia, South Carolina, CEPCI is a nonprofit provider of wholesale electric service to the state’s 20 electric cooperatives and their 800,000 customers, often referred to as members. CEPCI’s use of sophisticated demand management technology allows it to call load optimization events responsive to time-of-use pricing on a regular basis.

Not only does CEPCI serve the state’s electric co-ops by securing low-cost electricity via long-term power purchase agreements and more than 800 miles of transmission lines, but it also continuously tests new technologies that can benefit co-ops and their members. “We are looking for ways to reduce the coincident peak and the big costs related to that every month. That’s how our co-ops derive value from load management,” said Scott Hammond, CEPCI’s member programs manager. “We’ve had water-heater programs since the 1980s, and we’ve probably got about 60,000 or 70,000 water-heater switches we do control with as well as smart thermostats and some older AC switches that we use.”

CLICK HERE to read the full story.

Tetra Tech is seeking to add an Energy Efficiency Project Manager to direct evaluations of energy efficiency programs for utilities, commissions and other stakeholders. The preferred candidate will have industry experience in utilities, policy, energy efficiency, market research analytics, and/or energy program design and planning. This position will be located in our Madison, WI office; the option to work remotely is negotiable. Opportunity for advancement. Salary will be commensurate with experience.

CLICK HERE to view the full job ad.

Minneapolis, MN: August 31, 2020 - After a successful pilot, OATI is pleased to announce Presque Isle Electric & Gas (PIE&G) has chosen OATI to fully roll out a LoRa-based network infrastructure, including OATI’s webSmartEnergy AMIoT™ Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Head End system to collect electric and gas meter readings from 46,000 meters across its 2,300 square mile service territory.

OATI AMIoT™ is a disruptive AMI technology, poised to help cooperative utilities become leaders in the next generation of smart metering. This next generation, IoT-based AMI packaged solution utilizes a LoRa-based network for the communication backhaul, encompassing a Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) open protocol that provides bidirectional communications to the meters, and other devices, on the IoT network.

AMIoT™ is a highly cost-effective solution that also offers great flexibility to support a variety of use cases beyond AMI. The LoRa network takes advantage of open wireless and messaging communication protocols that allows utilities to add a multitude of LoRa-based devices such as smart agriculture, asset tracking, distribution automation, load management, and other sensing and control devices on the same network.

CLICK HERE to read the full press release.