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Peak Demand Management System

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Peak energy is of course the most expensive. To minimize this municipality's energy use, SKW designed and implemented a Demand Management System using a standard, inexpensive operator interface package tied to inputs for real-time load, demand and connected generation. Financial rules embedded in a report automatically calculate the impact of generation dispatch decisions. The City saved nearly $200,000 in power purchases the first year.

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AmerenUE, Missouri’s largest electric utility, serves approximately 1.2 million customers across central and eastern Missouri, including those residing the City of Marceline, population 2,228 (and the boyhood home of Walt Disney). Although the company’s rates are among the lowest in the nation, Marceline was looking for savings. SKW proposed a low-cost system to provide Energy Monitoring and Peak Demand Management. The goal was economic dispatch of generation, avoiding peak usage rates whenever possible.

The resulting system consists of new instrumentation to monitor power load, demand and connected generation, interfaced through a PLC to an operator interface based on InTouch from Wonderware. The system also tracks nominated power purchases and rates variations by day and season along with demand history.

Using the standard variable manipulation capabilities provided by the system’s report configuration utility, SKW engineers created a report based on real-time inputs, historical data, and financial rules. The report automatically calculates the impact of generation dispatch decisions. About 30% of the time, peak demand charges can be avoided.

The first year the system was in use it helped the City avoid about a megawat of peak demand usage a month for a savings of almost $200,000. AmerenUE would approve. The company is investing $24 million in 2009 for energy efficiency programs.