Residential Consumer Demand Response

Tender description

The integration of Demand Side Management (DSM) is an important component of the European Union’s transition towards a low carbon economy. At the European Union level DSM is firmly grounded in the 2009 Electricity Directive and the 2012 Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and is expected to feature as a key part of the energy system on the road to 2030. The Irish government has also recognised the potential of DSM and is committed to exploring opportunities in the sector. The growth of DSM in Ireland is undergoing rapid change largely driven by these EU and national policies. However, this recent growth has focused on commercial and industrial loads only. Given the proportion of total demand that is made up of residential consumers in Ireland there are real potential benefits from capturing the value of residential DSM. In order to stimulate growth and innovation in residential consumer based DSM, EirGrid has decided to run an industry wide competition in accordance with this procurement process. The objective of this tender is to have a residential consumer based demand response project in operation in 2016. The chosen scheme will have the capacity to provide a minimum of 2 MW and a maximum of 5 MW of demand response. EirGrid is responsible for ensuring day-to-day operational security of the power system and this competition will act as a pilot for this evolving space and help encourage and support technological innovation in this sector. This competition is targeted at supporting innovative projects that a prospective applicant would not otherwise undertake in its normal course of business because the associated investment risks and technical barriers are too high. In this regard we are seeking to encourage an innovative, break-through residential DSM project that will bring real benefit to consumers and the power system. The contract period will commence on award of contract and last to the end of 2017. See attached Tender Documents.