Businesses are not powerless to prevent these situations, however, as statewide programs exist that are designed to help support the grid through energy conservation and emergency demand response. During CAISO’s Summer Assessment press event earlier this year, the California Grocers Association (CGA) was commended for the leadership its membership has shown in these programs during past energy crises. This summer, the CAISO is again looking to CGA members for significant levels of demand reduction during electric capacity shortages.
The retail food industry may find it more challenging to make a sizeable impact this time around, however. As high electric prices in recent years significantly increased operating expenses, most grocers made substantial improvements in energy usage at stores to avoid passing costs onto customers, thereby lowering average demand. Today, new technologies must be employed to capture additional demand reduction.
Raley’s Family of Fine Stores is one company that has participated in emergency demand response before and looks forward to participating this summer to keep power flowing to the communities and customers it serves.
In order for Raley’s to participate across all of its facilities it must employ a centralized technology solution that allows it to rapidly curtail load in response to emergency events.
EnerNOC, the provider of this solution, works with numerous supermarket chains nationwide offering no-risk, rapidly-deployable technology solutions for shedding electrical load to help keep the lights on across multiple facilities. The company provides no-cost, engineering-grade audits that define demand reduction opportunities and is prepared to enable hundreds of stores with its technology-based solutions to maximize grocer participation in California.
