FERC Demand Response Study

FERC staff presented the report entitled A National Assessment of Demand Response Potential at the June 18th Commission meeting. The report details the extent to which US power demand could potentially be reduced based on a no demand response scenario, a business as usual model, an expanded business as usual model, an achievable participation model, and a full participation model. The report models 10 years of load growth -- from 2009 to 2019.

The business as usual model projects a 38 GW peak demand reduction by 2019, while the expanded business as usual model increases the projected demand reduction to 82 GW by 2019. The expanded model expands demand response projections to all states, and also includes smart meter deployment and a 5% dynamic pricing participation assumption.

The achievable model increased demand response even more, relying on a 6 to 75 percent dynamic pricing participation as well as other more aggressive assumptions. The peak demand reduction by 2019 under this scenario is 138 GW. Finally the full participation model projects a 188 GW demand reduction.