Demand response challenges

How will the integration of demand response initiatives affect the US power market? Ron McNamara, principal consultant at energy consultancy Utilicast and former managing director at energy trader Saracen Energy Partners, discusses how to integrate end users into the electricity market

Over the past decade, a new policy paradigm has emerged in the US power sector that challenges the status quo over how electricity is produced, consumed and regulated. The seeds of this challenge were planted 20 to 30 years ago when technological advances reduced the economies of scale enjoyed by large-scale electricity generation.

As the market and policy makers look to develop new routes to efficiency, six major areas of technological innovation have emerged:

• Demand response;

• Renewable