EM&V Quarterly Update - Q1 2019

Directors Note

Why Our Siloed Approach to Efficiency Has Got to Go: Burning Questions That Are Influencing EM&V

If you read the tea leaves of the January 2019 Association of Energy Service Professionals (AESP) annual meeting, it is clear that the worldwide energy transition that is underway is sparking discussion among energy efficiency stakeholders. Driven by technology and climate imperatives, it is starting to shape policy goals, analytical tools, program designs, and the boundaries of our community. Here are four conference themes that are especially relevant opportunities for the EM&V community:

Beneficial electrification: This strategy of reducing carbon emissions with a focus on transportation and building sector market transformation presents regulatory, programmatic, and organizational challenges and opportunities for utilities. Issues to address include linkages to renewable programs and filling gaps in our data sources and modeling resources.

Energy efficiency in grid context: As one of the distributed energy resources, energy efficiency has to play well with other resources, which include demand response, storage, and renewables. Utilities and system operators and regulators all face challenges of managing  the varied applications for energy storage available to utilities, and how storage, controls, and demand flexibility interact with renewables to create multiple benefits for the grid and business models for utilities, and how the value of energy efficiency is optimized as part of the portfolio of distributed resources serving the grid.  

The value of data: Advanced analytics can serve many roles beyond EM&V – including in marketing & customer engagement and program design. Issues include identifying opportunities for data-driven program design and performance evaluation? Cost-effectiveness and successful integration of pay-for-performance program.

The multifamily sector: This important sector remains relatively unexamined. Opportunities exist for deeper understanding of energy patterns, successful securing of comprehensive energy savings, and leveraging smart technology.

Updates Made by The Climate Registry: General Reporting Protocol (GRP) Version 3.0

The Climate Registry (TCR) is non-profit organization self-described as “a carbon-footprinting pioneer.” It designs and operates voluntary and compliance GHG reporting programs, and assists organizations in measuring, reporting, and verifying carbon in their operations in order to manage and reduce it. The Climate Registry recently released the General Reporting Protocol (GRP) Version 3.0 with opportunities for public comment following an informational webinar. The GRP presents the reporting requirements for TCR’s voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reporting program. Updates to the GRP were made to: 

• Incorporate a new modular format; 
• Streamline reporting methodologies; 
• Provide additional flexibility in setting inventory boundaries; and, 
• Incorporate 2018 updates to the International Organization for Standardization’s (ISO) standard on quantifying and reporting GHGs at the organizational level (ISO 14064-1: 2018) 

NEEP supports the intent of the changes to streamline reporting methodologies and TCR’s responsiveness to organizations’ suggestions and is sharing information about this resource because many energy efficiency stakeholders in the region are also working to support decarbonization and may find the Registry and its protocols of interest as a strategy for tracking progress. Please refer to the cover memo that explains the major changes in greater detail and to https://www.theclimateregistry.org/ for a copy of the protocol. The Climate Registry will be hosting a Climate Leadership Conference on March 20 – 22 in Baltimore where these protocols may be discussed. 

Is Advanced Measurement and Verification part of the solution for GEBs?

We live in a world where distributed generation is on the rise, energy storage solutions are becoming safer and more reliable, consumers get excited about owning smart devices, and the pathway to home automation and energy efficiency is ubiquitously accepted as a key driver for decarbonization. But can you visualize a future where all of these concepts are holistically blended and optimized to produce buildings and homes capable of responding to grid reliability and customer needs? The U.S. Department of Energy (U.S. DOE) can. In fact, this is a vision that has been materializing for years – one that it refers to as Grid-Interactive Efficient Buildings (GEBs). To help execute this vision, U.S. DOE recently partnered with Southern Company Research and Development (R&D) and national laboratories to better understand how to make efficient and effective buildings-to-grid interaction a reality.

In the Northeast, policymakers and utilities are beginning to recognize GEBs as critical to the realization of more reliable, affordable, and clean energy systems. Many states are pursuing this by linking energy efficiency investments in homes and buildings with demand response programs, to provide grid reliability services. As this evolution takes place, NEEP has taken note of the important role that Measurement and Verification (M&V) plays in the adoption of GEBs. For example, New York’s recent statewide vision beckons more sophisticated, rigorous evaluation, measurement and verification methods. Its Reforming the Vision (REV) plan aims to achieve a more modernized grid and suggests a market transformation approach to energy efficiency, rather than the previous resource acquisition approach. To fully integrate efficiency into its projected model, more reliable EM&V methods – along with the development of market and financing mechanisms – will be essential.

As GEBS become more commonplace, so does the expectation of increased smart meter data and sophisticated data analytics. These are tools that enable better tracking of the magnitude and persistence of whole-building analytics, and increase the ability to identify changes in building energy usage. In fact, these very tools are the core of Advanced M&V, and NEEP captures their increasing applicability via our Advanced Building Analytics Tools List. In the Northeast we can already see the onset of a paradigm shift taking place as energy efficiency programs are starting to move away from widget-based deemed savings and towards real-time monitoring of whole buildings with new pay-for-performance (P4P) approaches. While New York and Washington D.C. have recently launched pilot programs to understand and evaluate the feasibility of this approach, New Jersey launched its pilot program back in 2015 and currently has an up-and-running P4P program. It should also be noted that as behavior-based programs like strategic energy management (SEM) become more mainstream, they are also moving away from widget-based savings by capturing more granular level real-time data from energy management systems.

There is no denying that the role of energy efficiency will increase as the grid becomes more modernized and the GEBs concept is adopted by more and more states. For the purposes of system planning, system reliability, and the pursuit of the bigger-picture greenhouse gas (GHG) goals, energy efficiency savings will need to be consistently dependable, with a supporting measurement and verification method that can get the job done!

A New Evaluation Framework – for Evaluating Competitive Bids for Non-Wires Alternatives: NWA Playbook by Rocky Mountain Institute 

Non-wires solutions (NWS) represent a compelling update to traditional utility investment practices, helping keep customer electricity bills stable while enabling a lower-carbon electricity grid. They are becoming an increasingly cost-effective energy and decarbonizing strategy, but limited utility experience and existing regulatory frameworks are barriers. With the rate of spending on distribution infrastructure increasing, there’s a need for utilities to systematically evaluate whether NWS might obviate the need for costly investment. At the same time, NWS can unlock additional value from DERs, promoting the cost-effective deployment of resources that are important for reducing carbon emissions. Clear methodologies for how solution costs and benefits will be quantified are critical for transparency and bid optimization. Providing transparent evaluation criteria can help build developer trust in the solicitation process and encourage continued participation in the utility’s NWS solicitations.

RMI’s Playbook arms regulators, utilities, and technology or service providers with a roadmap for deploying NWS at scale and elevating DERs as core components of cost-effective grid infrastructure. Here is summary blog. 

 

Mark Your Calendar

Upcoming Forum, NEEP, and other webinars and meetings of potential interest

• Climate Leadership Conference, The Climate Registry, March 20-22, 2019, Baltimore

• HPC National Conference (including a smart homes track), April 1-4 in Chicago

• NASEO Northeast Regional Meeting, May 7-8, 2019, Concord NH