Sponsor Highlight – National Grid's Innovative ConnectedSolutions Program

By USGBC MA

We can never thank National Grid enough for being a Platinum Sponsor, and we're thrilled that they stopped by our Annual Meeting last week to give a tight, efficient presentation. Paul Wassink and Mark Stafford took the floor to discuss – for the first time ever publicly – the new ConnectedSolutions program, which is something every business owner should care about.

We're talking free money! If you sign up, you can qualify to get a direct rebate for curtailing peak electricity loads. It's awesome.

Summer is a bad time for electricity demand, with everyone blasting the air conditioner seemingly 24/7 until October. National Grid wants to combat peak electric demand, and by reducing electric use by just a few hours a day during the summer months, you can help reduce emissions, infrastructure costs, and energy prices overall. And save money!

In the summer, the electric grid is pushed to its limit, meaning power plants must be sized and to meet the spike in demand. Peak timing is considered 10am-8pm on weekdays, especially in the late afternoon, so if you can go just a few hours, or even a few minutes, without cranking up the AC on full blast, a huge difference can be made.

Saving energy is more rewarding! When you lower energy consumption during demand response events, there are some clear incentives: Capacity payment becomes $20 per kW per year, and for performance payments, $0.75 per kWh during events.

Read more about ConnectedSolutions here.

Follow National Grid's lead and become a sponsor of the USGBC MA Chapter!