Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition Hails FERC Release of Report on Potential...

Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition Hails FERC Release of Report on
Potential for Reducing Peak Demand

WASHINGTON, June 18 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Demand Response and Smart
Grid Coalition (DRSG) hailed the release today by the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (FERC) of the first-ever national assessment of demand
response potential. The evaluation, "A National Assessment of Demand Response
Potential," was ordered by Congress in 2007 to better understand and identify
the savings and benefits of reducing electricity during peak demand periods,
when the costs of producing and delivering power are the highest, when
emissions are the greatest, and when the reliability of the grid is most
likely to be threatened.

The FERC assessment finds the potential for reducing peak electricity demand
across the country to be between 38 gigawatts (GW) and 188 GW, representing up
to 20 percent of national peak demand, depending on how extensively demand
response is applied. According to FERC, this can reduce the need to operate
hundreds of power plants during peak times.

The study also makes recommendations for overcoming barriers to increasing use
of demand response. By reducing electricity consumption at peak times like
hot summer afternoons, when the most expensive generators are called into
service, demand response can lower the cost of producing electricity.

"This Assessment is essential to getting the attention for demand response
that it deserves in terms of it being an important part of the solution to
many of the challenges facing the electricity industry and the nation today,"
said Dan Delurey, Executive Director of DRSG. "It makes no sense to operate
our electricity system in a way that that does not put particular focus on
reducing peak demand. Said another way, we will not have a smart grid until
such focus is applied. Demand response is the smart grid 'in action' and many
of the benefits sought from a smart grid will come as a result of demand
response helping to optimize the way that the grid is planned and operated."

"We look forward to the next step at FERC, also requested by Congress, which
is the development of a National Action Plan on Demand Response," said
Delurey. "We anticipate that this Action Plan will be something that brings
together all parties to create and implement a road map for demand response
that in turn will help make the smart grid a reality."

More information on demand response and smart grid, including how it relates
to energy efficiency, renewable energy and climate change, is available on the
DRSG website at www.drsgcoalition.org.

About DRSG

The Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition (DRSG) is the trade association
for companies that provide products and services in the areas of demand
response, energy storage, smart metering and other smart grid technologies and
services. DRSG works to educate and provide information to policymakers,
utilities, the media, the financial community and stakeholders on how demand
response, smart grid technologies and practices can help modernize our
electricity system and provide customers with new information and options for
managing their electricity use.

Members of the DRSG Coalition include: Aclara, Ambient, Amplex, CalAmp,
Comverge, Conservation Services Group, Corporate Systems Engineering, CPower,
Direct Energy, Echelon, Eka Systems, eMeter, Energy Capital Partners, Energy
Curtailment Specialists, EnergySolve, EnerNOC, Enfora, Enspiria Solutions, GE,
Google, Honeywell, IBM, Ice Energy, Itron, KMC Controls, Landis+Gyr, Lutron
Electronics, Oracle, PCN Technology, Sensus, Silver Spring Networks,
SmartSynch, Steffes, Tendril, Trilliant Networks, and Ziphany. More
information is available at www.drsgcoalition.org.

SOURCE Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition (DRSG)

Dan Delurey of Demand Response and Smart Grid Coalition (DRSG),
+1-202-441-1420