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Demand Response Enabling Technologies Development

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  • Carl Blumstein
    PI
  • Gaymond Yee
  • Therese Peffer
  • Niall Mateer
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The Demand Response Enabling Technologies Development (DR ETD) program ran from 2002-2015 and was a critical component of California’s broader Demand Response Program Plan. Managed by the California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE) at UC Berkeley, the program addressed the need for a two-way communication and automated decision-making infrastructure to enable real-time response to changing market conditions. Its primary goal was to conduct research that advances science and technology not adequately provided by competitive and regulated markets.

Shortly after the Western U.S. Energy Crisis of 2000–2001, the California Energy Commission sought to make the state’s electricity grid more resilient by exploring demand response as a means of shifting peak load to improve grid reliability and stabilize prices. Disruptive enabling technologies are necessary for achieving low-cost, high functionality meters, thermostats, actuators and other products part of demand-response and energy-efficient systems envisioned by state policy; however, industry and federal government Research and Development (R&D) programs do not fund their development. To meet this need, the Energy Commission funded the Demand Response Enabling Technology Development Program in 2002 to develop and implement disruptive enabling technologies with ten times the functionality of current technology and one-tenth of the installation cost within the next 5–8 years. This program was unique in the sense that many research programs typically fund projects with immediate demand and a 2–3 year timeline. In 2008, the Enabling Technology Development Program evolved into the Enabling Technology Program. 

The California Institute for Energy and Environment (CIEE) administered the program. 

Between 2002 and 2014, the Energy Commission awarded a total of $12.9 million in funding to 22 grants—ten of which were with the University of California, three with the California State University, two with the U.S. Department of Energy National Labs, and seven with private industry. 

Project Results 

The projects cover a wide variety of topics ranging from hardware (batteries, energy harvesters, thermostats, wireless technologies, arc fault interrupter for DC systems) to middleware (controls, power factor filter, inverter controls) and to systemic issues (evaluation of wireless communication, network architecture, privacy, networked electric vehicles, consumer engagement). Over the course of the program, researchers at the University of California, Berkeley developed small integrated sensor nodes with low powered radios using thermoelectric and vibration power generation, as well as printable storage devices. Researchers worked across campuses and between institutions to develop improved lithium battery technologies, inverter controls that improved grid stability, user interfaces and controls to enable acceptable electric vehicle charging in networks, and mobile apps to engage residential electricity consumers. 

Project Benefits 

The technologies resulting from these projects have benefited California in numerous ways. A residential gateway reference design paved the way toward commercial products. Research improved thermostats in multiple ways. Two advanced thermostats companies, EcoFactor and Nest Labs, benefited from the advanced thermostat research, which encompassed improved user interface design, machine learning, and occupant sensing. The Energy Commission formed the Universal Smart Network Access Port (USNAP) Alliance to promote, certify and advance a protocol independent modular communication interface standard, known as ANSI/CEA-2045, that enables any Home Area Network (HAN) or Demand Response (DR) standard, present and future, to use any energy services interface as a gateway, without adding additional protocol-specific hardware. In 2010, Golden Power introduced a sub-$100 Programmable Communicating Thermostat with 2-USNAP ports, and included a Wi-Fi communications module. 

Utility Integration Solutions (UISOL) demonstrated the feasibility of automating demand response (DR) business networks end-to-end in the DRBizNet software. By late 2014, some 1,100+ registered users of DRBizNet in over 250 companies in 27 states were using DRBizNet; UISOL was 80 people strong, with 50 percent of its revenue coming from DRBizNet licenses and services. DRBizNet created about 40 new jobs. 

In addition, many start-up companies developed both directly and indirectly as results of work from the program, including: 

  • Imprint Energy (printable batteries), founded by Christine Ho 
  • Adura Technology (wireless load controls, (acquired by Acuity Brands), co-founded by Charlie Huizenga) 
  • Sentilla (Information technology infrastructure intelligence software, [acquired by Ericsson], founded by Joe Polastre) 
  • Dust Networks (wireless mesh network of motes) acquired by Linear Technology), founded by Kris Pister 
  • Arch Rock (Internet Protocol-based wireless network technology, (acquired by Cisco), founded by David Culler 
  • Vigilent Corporation (formerly Federspiel Controls), founded by Cliff Federspiel 

Dozens of graduate student researchers worked on the Demand Response Enabling Technology Development/Enabling Technology Development Program between 2003 and 2014. Many went onto private industry and universities and have become thought leaders and sources of authority in the energy field.