{"id":8526,"date":"2025-11-18T09:56:21","date_gmt":"2025-11-18T14:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cpowerenergy.com\/?p=8526"},"modified":"2025-11-18T09:56:21","modified_gmt":"2025-11-18T14:56:21","slug":"aging-controls-block-demand-response-revenue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cpowerenergy.com\/aging-controls-block-demand-response-revenue\/","title":{"rendered":"Aging Controls Block Demand Response Revenue"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Demand<\/p>\n

We\u2019re excited to have our technology partner Energy IQ<\/a> contribute this guest column for The Current.<\/em><\/p>\n

As 2026 capital plans take shape, one issue keeps showing up in industrial and large commercial facilities: aging control infrastructure. This keeps companies from earning more demand response (DR) revenue because they cannot seize opportunities.<\/p>\n

For when capacity markets tighten and DR programs pay more, facilities that respond fast are rewarded while those that don’t can be effectively sidelined. Such is the case in PJM, for example, where capacity prices have jumped sharply<\/a> and FERC has approved<\/a> a broadening of the window for DR participation to enhance grid reliability and resource adequacy.<\/p>\n

Why legacy systems struggle<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

Missed opportunities often come down to a customer\u2019s controls. Slower respondents tend to rely on building management systems (BMS) and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) systems designed for monitoring, trending and alarms; not for fast, coordinated curtailment across multiple loads.<\/p>\n

This dependence creates four common barriers to DR participation:<\/p>\n

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  1. Slow polling\/refresh rates. If the system only updates every 30\u201360 seconds, it can\u2019t reliably meet DR program response requirements that expect action in minutes (or sometimes less).<\/span><\/li>\n
  2. Limited connectivity. Older controls often can\u2019t talk natively to modern DR platforms or aggregators without an intermediate layer.<\/span><\/li>\n
  3. Manual steps. When operators have to make the calls, flip the points or pick the loads, human delay and human error enter the process\u2014this is where revenue gets lost.<\/span><\/li>\n
  4. Insufficient event data. Without automated logs of what was shed, when and for how long, settlement and payment can be slow or disputed.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The result: facilities with perfectly good mechanical and electrical systems still miss out on what could be six-figure (and in some industrial cases seven-figure) annual DR opportunities, simply because the controls can\u2019t prove or execute the event.<\/p>\n

    A practical modernization pattern<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n

    The good news is that most sites don\u2019t need a full rip-and-replace to participate. Rather, a common approach in DR programs is to insert an integration\/translation layer that does four jobs:<\/p>\n