DOE awards $3.5M for natural gas demand response programs

The U.S. Department of Energy’s (DOE) Office of Fossil Energy and Carbon Management (FECM) is awarding $3.5 million to develop natural gas demand response (NGDR) pilot programs.

This initiative aims to provide incentives for customers to reduce their natural gas consumption during periods of peak demand or periods of system strain. These demand response programs improve energy system efficiency and reliability and lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The demand response programs for natural gas systems would replicate successful electricity demand programs within the country.

The $3.5 million will be awarded to two projects. One is for Gas Technology Institute of Des Plaines, Ill., which will partner with Lumina Decision System and Southern California Gas Company to launch two NGDR pilot programs. The two pilots include a residential thermostat and water heating controls program and a commercial and industrial NGDR pilot program. The DOE awarded $2.5 million for this project, which has a total value of $7.5 million.

The other is for National Grid USA of Buffalo, N.Y., which will partner with Det Norske Veritas and Radiator Labs to implement a natural gas demand response pilot program using thermostat controls to reduce the consumption of natural gas for central heating in multifamily and single-family households in downstate New York. It will explore hybrid heating technologies to reduce gas system use during peak hours and peak cold weather periods to alleviate natural gas system constraints. The DOE is awarding $947,190 to this initiative, which has a total value of $1,894,381.

The DOE’s National Energy Technology Laboratory (NETL) will manage these projects.