PG&E Supply-side Pilot II

PG&Es Supply-side Pilot II (SSP II) fosters the participation of demand response in the CAISO wholesale market using the Proxy Demand Resource (PDR) product. As Pilot administrator and CAISO Scheduling Coordinator (SC), Olivine simplifies market participation with training, support and CAISO Demand Response Services.

The SSP puts demand response squarely in the action, enabling bidding and settlement with the market based on performance. Monthly capacity payments provide a consistent source of revenue for all participants that fulfill monthly pilot requirements.  The SSP differs from the California Demand Response Auction Mechanism by allowing more market flexibility, enabling market interactions and learnings without the additional burden of resource adequacy requirements.

The SSP was originally planned to complete in 2016 but has been extended as the SSP 2 with the addition of distribution-need components.

Who Can Participate?
Subject to an enrollment cap, the pilot is open to any individual customers or aggregators within PG&E service territory who can meet the Pilot requirements. Both residential and non-residential participation is currently open. It is expected that each participant will register a single Proxy Demand Resource (PDR), composed of a single aggregation with one or more locations.

Note that direct access customers and customers in Community Choice Aggregators (CCAs) are also welcome as long as the customers take distribution service from PG&E.

What are the PDR Eligibility Requirements?
The Proxy Demand Response (PDR) is a CAISO resource type for demand response.  By CAISO rules, all PDRs must be:

  • Capable of achieving a minimum curtailment of 100 kW
  • Composed of one or more customer locations all within the same Sub Location Aggregation Point (Sub-LAP)
  • Served by the same Load-Serving Entity (LSE) for all locations
  • Inactive on any other demand response program (including PDP and SmartRate) for the duration of the pilot
What are the Pilot Participation Requirements?
As part of the requirements of the SSP, participants must:

  • Make monthly capacity nominations at the resource level
  • Make the appropriate number of block bids at or above the nominated capacity (i.e., 4-hour blocks on 18 days)
  • Execute the appropriate participation agreements with Olivine
  • Be subject to ongoing eligibility checks by PG&E
Incentive Payments
  • The basis for capacity and energy payments in the SSP II is the CAISO “10-in-10” baseline.  This measures event performance, comparing the usage during an event to an average of the most recent 10 similar non-event days
  • Participants will receive the CAISO calculated energy settlements and are responsible for any performance charges. Costs are calculated for each award hour with over-delivery paid and under-delivery charged to the participant based on real-time prices per CAISO settlement rules.
  • All payments will be made to the Participant by Olivine
How Do I Get Involved?

Fill out the Declaration of Interest form below and send it to: pge-pilots@olivineinc.com

Reference

  1. SSP II Presentation
  2. Pilot Declaration of Interest
  3. SSP II FAQ

The latest report on the SSP is here: 2019 SSP Summary Report-Redacted. 

Previous reports are also available: 2018 SSP Summary Report-Redacted (covering 2017 and 2018) and  PDF_DemandResponseOIR-2013_Report_PGE_20171011-Public (covering 2015 and 2016).