The U.S. General Services Administration has taken the lead in embracing an important environmental sustainability and energy conservation strategy called Demand Response. Starting in May of 2011, the U.S. General Services Administration and NuEnergen LLC., of White Plains, NY, began the process of initiating this Demand Response energy conservation & electric power grid reliability program.

As the GSA’s load curtailment services provider, NuEnergen has enrolled many GSA buildings such as court houses and federal office buildings in demand response programs.   This program compensates the GSA to be on “stand-by” to reduce electricity consumption when asked to do so by the electric power grid operators. In return the GSA is paid for curtailing electrical loads.  There are a few times during the year when the demand for electricity exceeds supply which, in turn, creates a danger of blackouts.  This program serves to prevent blackouts in the major metropolitan areas along the eastern seaboard of the United States and secondarily allows for the operation of fewer power generation plants. 

This past summer there were two Demand Response Events declared by the NYISO and PJM grid system operators calling upon participating facilities to reduce their electric loads for a few short hours.  The GSA facilities that were enrolled in the program at the time responded promptly curtailing their respective allocated loads. By doing so, this helped assure the electric power grid could supply the needs of all users in New York and New Jersey.

Recently, NuEnergen CEO, Kevin Hamilton, and NuEnergen Chairman, Sandy Hamilton, had the honor of presenting the first of many payments to the GSA for its participation in demand response programs.  In presenting NuEnergen’s check to the GSA, Kevin Hamilton stated: “Congratulations to the entire GSA regional team for taking the lead with demand response, for being a good neighbor by helping to protect the region from blackouts and for being good stewards of the taxpayer’s dollar.”  Mr. Hamilton further thanked the property management and facilities engineering staff of the GSA for their diligence and commitment to successfully participating in this program.

Consistent with the energy conservation goals of the Federal Government, the GSA will have many more facilities partaking in demand response thus curtailing more electrical load and saving ever greater sums of taxpayer dollars.

NuEnergen not only serves as the Curtailment Provider for the GSA but also serves the Demand Response needs for many facilities of the US Navy, US Army, New York Air National Guard, and many civilian institutions as well.  If you have any questions on how your facility can partake in these and similar programs, and receive substantial compensation for your efforts, please contact us at demandresponse@nuenergen.com.