GFO-23-316 – Industrial, Agriculture, and Water Demand Flexible Research and Deployment Hub (IAW FlexHub)

Demand flexibility refers to comprehensive programs and strategies that align electricity consumption with dynamic grid conditions. These can include both event-based demand response (DR) and load shifting strategies. Accelerating demand flexibility is a key strategy for California to reliably and affordably reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and meet the state’s climate and clean energy goals. In May 2023, CEC announced a statewide load shift goal of 7,000 MW by 2030, as directed by Senate Bill 846 (Dodd, Chapter 239, Statutes of 2022). However, there is very limited research about the operational flexibility of these sectors to quantify demand flexibility potential. Innovative solutions are needed to reduce the cost of implementation, deploy advanced controls for automated load shifting, and demonstrate state-of-the-art best practices that meet the needs of the IAW sectors.  Projects awarded by the IAW FlexHub solicitation will increase IAW end-use demand flexibility, reduce dependence on fossil generation for firming renewable resources, enhance grid stability, and help resolve reliability issues related to achieving California’s environmental and decarbonization goals. The resulting technology research and development must lead to the discovery of new technologies and strategies and their potential for market adoption and scale-up through standards and policy enhancements. The Hub must bring together a multidisciplinary team of IAW experts from multiple sectors—including industry, academia, manufacturers, and non-profits—with the goal of achieving a critical mass of expertise to develop and implement the proposed projects’ activities and to create the capacity to achieve the following research objectives:  ·       Analyze IAW sector load shapes, including industrial subsectors, and identify operational flexibilities for demand flexibility​. ·       Develop advanced signal-responsive (price, marginal greenhouse gas emissions, etc.) technology solutions, with advanced cyber security, that enable commercialization and market adoption of flexible demand resources that operate in a grid-supportive manner. ·       Document best practices, performance, and costs of those technologies to provide a clear value proposition for customers, building owners, ratepayers, load serving entities, aggregators, and grid operators. ·       Prioritize current and anticipated grid and customer needs, identify a suite of research projects to serve those needs, and inform policy. ·       Share technical knowledge developed through Hub activities to accelerate technology standardization and adoption, reduce customer and infrastructure costs, increase electrical grid benefits, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.