Understanding BYOT for electric Utilities: AutoGrid

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#Organizer : AutoGrid

What is Bring Your Own Things BYOT™?
Two trends are creating an economic opportunity for utilities and end-consumers of electricity:
1. The increasing adoption of smart IoT devices by consumers
2. The need for energy flexibility management by utilities

The smart thermostat market was valued at $1.1 billion in 2017 and is expected to grow to $3.4 billion by 2023. While the desire to remotely control heating and air conditioning has driven adoption of smart thermostats by end-consumers, the growth of smart home voice assistants is further increasing sales of these devices. For utilities, trends such as the addition of renewable assets at both sides of the meter and rising electrification of heating and transportation units have created the need for energy flexibility management.

A BYOT program lies firmly at the intersection of these two trends.
Existing and new users of different smart devices can adjust their energy usage automatically when utilities call a demand response (DR) event in anticipation of grid instability or high peak demand. In this white paper, we outline how a successful BYOT program delivers value to all key stakeholders in the value chain:

 1) utilities,
 2) smart thermostat OEMs,
 3) energy services providers, and
 4) end-consumers, by aligning their needs in the short term (Fig. 1) and creating a pathway for stronger engagement over the long term.

A software solutions provider delivers a platform for all these stakeholders to participate in the program and engage with one another.

How does a utility execute a BYOT™ program?
A successful BYOT program requires four building blocks, known as the four Ms: Market, Materialize, Measure, and Manage

What is the value created by a BYOT™ program?
Having dispatchable and reliable kW through DR programs is valuable to utilities because they can use this capacity as a way to manage changes in demand and supply of electricity in the grid. The economic benefit that utilities realize is in the form of avoided costs. Without the ability to flex demand by dispatching these smart thermostats, utilities may have to turn up reserve generation capacity and incur incremental capacity and energy charges. Additional charges may include cost for ancillary services (e.g., to meet frequency regulation requirements) and costs of using transmission and distribution infrastructure. The value of these savings is then distributed across the chain to other stakeholders in the chain.

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