Olivine + PG&E Selected for PLMA’s 2022 Program Pacesetter Award
Grid Resilience
Pacific Gas and Electric (PG&E) and Olivine, Inc. were recognized for their Collaboration in Solving Problems for Diverse Customers and Situations by the Peak Load Management Alliance (PLMA) in their annual awards ceremony held on April 5, 2022. Together, PG&E and Olivine worked to unlock load flexibility across northern California for diverse customers, including low-income residential customers from disadvantaged communities as well as large commercial and industrial customers (C&I).
Their collaborative work leveraged the Olivine ClimateResponse™ technology and services, specifically the ClimateResponse™ App, an innovative technology solution that facilitates customer engagement and education to enhance peak load management. Integrated with the Olivine DER Platform, the app enables customers to shape and shift their loads as they actively monitor their home electricity usage, engage with Demand Response (DR) programs, participate in events, reduce emissions, and contribute to grid stability and resilience. The ClimateResponse™ App provides equitable access in multiple languages, is available in mobile and web versions, and engages customers through event notifications and reminders, energy savings tips, post-event energy and environmental impact data, and program earnings reports.
The ClimateResponse™ App’s launch in 2020 for PG&E’s Fresno Energy Program, a behavioral Demand Response program, was key to delivering an average of 0.65 kW of load reduction per household during events with residents in the low-income communities of south-central Fresno, CA. “The load performance delivered by low-income customers through a behavioral DR program was many times higher than similar programs, and was made possible through the unique technological, engagement, and educational features of the Olivine app,” said Vasudha Lathey, Olivine’s Vice President of Community Programs.
Olivine is currently administering PG&E’s Emergency Load Reduction Program (ELRP) and leveraging the ClimateResponse™ App for its residential customers. The ELRP program focuses on aggregating dispatchable load in times of high grid stress and emergencies and will also include commercial and industrial (C&I) customers, program aggregators, virtual power plant (VPP) aggregators, and vehicle-to-grid (V2G) aggregations. “PG&E’s program implementation using both Olivine’s ClimateResponse™ technology and its services provide a model for how utilities can rapidly design, launch, and scale efforts to respond to grid emergencies and mitigate current and future impacts of climate change,” Lathey said.
Olivine and PG&E Presented Together on PLMA Webinar
On July 28, 2022, as part of PLMA’s summer webinar series, Olivine and PG&E both presented on the topic of on unlocking load flexibility for diverse customers. They also highlighted their long history together of successful collaboration in tackling these issues head on.