Transmission tower with 2 buildings in front of it. Parity's HVAC Optimization service, Optimizer, works with the grid through demand response automation.

Automated Demand Response
Curtailment

Parity automates demand response curtailment so you don’t have to. Plus, we maximize your revenue from demand response events without compromising resident comfort.

Several transmission towers carrying electricity into a city at night during a demand response event.

What is Demand Response?

Demand response (DR) is a strategy utility companies use to manage electricity consumption during peak demand periods. These typically coincide with the warmest days of summer, when the electric grid is the most vulnerable, and its emissions are usually the highest.

DR reduces energy demand in real-time or on a pre-determined, typically 2-4 hours, window. This is called a demand response event.

Buildings that participate in demand response programs will reduce their electricity demand, reduce strain on the grid, and receive financial incentives from utility companies.

Buildings get paid per kW reduction during scheduled, or sometimes unscheduled, demand response events. For example, there are usually between 4 to 8 demand response events a year in a typical season in New York’s ConEd demand response program. This is a great opportunity for buildings to earn additional revenue.

Transmission wires outside of a city during the day carrying electricity to buildings during a demand response event.
New Revenue Stream

Automated Demand Response Curtailment With Parity

Parity automates demand response curtailment during demand response events to save Resident Managers and other building staff time by eliminating manual protocols.

Our software will also maximize your revenue from DR events and reduce the impact of the temporary energy reduction for occupants during a demand response event.

By working with the resident manager to pre-program the level of curtailment they are comfortable with, Parity can automatically “switch” the building into DR mode when the notification of an event is received from a DR aggregator.

We can do this because we remotely control a building’s HVAC systems. We have a deep understanding of the building’s real-time heating and cooling demand. We automate HVAC systems with a unique level of precision through remote control adjustments.

For example, we can automate ventilation equipment for a demand response event. It’s normally not feasible for maintenance staff to scramble up to the roof to manually do this for every demand response event.

This graph shows Parity lowering the overall energy demand measured in kWs for a building during a DR event.

Automated Demand Response Curtailment Example

The graph to the right shows Parity lowering the overall energy demand measured in kWs. Here’s an example of how we automated demand response for a building during a demand response event:

Starting on Time:

In the graph, the 2022 line shows the building started curtailment almost a third of the way through the event. With our automation, we begin curtailment slightly before the event to maximize revenue. We can also set up automated pre-cooling.

Depth of Curtailment:

It’s hard to know how far you can take the curtailment without impacting resident comfort. We develop customized curtailment programming. This can include pre-cooling, a process where cooling is run at nearly full capacity for around 2 hours before the event, which is another benefit of our automation. If we pre-cool, we can avoid tenant issues. This is particularly important for longer events (4+ hours).

Return To Baseline:

With our automation, the system returns to its baseline within minutes of the end of the event, unlike in 2022. Also, you can see how post-event in 2023, with our automation, kW did not increase as much.

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