For two years, Ohio University has collected hundreds of thousands of dollars from EnergyConnect for demonstrating its ability to lower power usage in an emergency. Last week, when the southern Ohio electricity grid neared capacity, that emergency finally came.
To be a part of EnergyConnect's Demand Response program, OU must demonstrate once a year that it has the capacity to lower its electricity usage by three megawatts with one hour’s notice.
However, July 17 was the first time in Ohio history the notice was actually given, said Mike Gebeke, executive director of facilities management.
At 3:18 pm that day, Stephen Golding, vice president for Finance and Administration, sent an email to all university students, faculty and staff asking them to reduce power consumption for about four hours, starting at 3:45 pm.
OU’s average yearly electricity usage is 19 megawatts, so the program requires the institution to reduce its usage to 16 megawatts if there is an emergency.
“Of course, (the emergency) happened on the hottest day of the year, so we were running at about 20 megawatts,” Gebeke said.
Average OU electricity usage in July is about 19 megawatts, he added.
EnergyConnect, based in Campbell, Cali., pays industrial electricity users to reduce their energy usage if the electricity grid in their area nears or reaches full capacity. This reduction in power consumption can prevent blackouts or brownouts in the area, said Gebeke.
However, the participating institutions are paid the same amount regardless of whether they are asked to reduce power throughout the year.
“In the first year the program was done differently,” Gebeke said. “Demand was at a higher price, so we received $136,000 (from the company).”
Demand has lowered this year as a result of gas prices, but OU was still able to work out a three-year contract in which it receives $47,000 per year, he said.
The program is an easy source of revenue for the university, and its effects on day-to-day operations have been relatively small, even on July 17.
Golding’s email asked everyone at OU to turn off appliances, electronic devices and lights and adjust their thermostats to use less power. In addition, Gebeke said he shut down air conditioning in non-critical areas and rerouted chilled water to research areas.
“It got a little warm over in Shively Dining Hall because we did have orientation groups there,” he said. “And there was one experiment that we didn't know about that had to be temperature controlled.”
The experiment had to be repeated the next day, but those were the only two significant effects of the reduction, Gebeke said.
The reason for the required reduction has not been made public, but Gebeke speculated that it may have been to perform maintenance on the grid after a large storm that passed through the region.
EnergyConnect could not be reached for comment.
bv111010@ohiou.edu
