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Summary

Depending on what energy storage technologies companies sell, they approach energy problems for prospective C&I customers in different ways. However, for decarbonization to thrive, the industry must leave confirmation bias behind when building solutions to energy challenges. Every storage solution does not fit all. It is important to understand the customer’s energy pain points like an in-house Chief Energy Officer (CEnO) and build a meaningful picture of the broader business environment in which these problems are impacting the customer’s campus. Energy quality, resilience, and energy costs are all issues businesses are realizing they need to plan and optimize for severe weather events or sudden power outages. For example, Centrica Business Solutions built a 49MW demand response energy storage facility instead of a gas-fired generation plant for a municipality. The new plant provides enough energy to power 50,000 households, and serves the needs of an entire community without the need for fossil fuel-based generation. We also worked with a U.S. university to adopt environmentally-friendly solutions through analyzing and reporting on its sustainability progress. Using this analysis, the university purchases 100% of its energy from sustainable sources and has worked steadily to reduce energy consumption by almost one third.When it comes to energy, service providers must also have a good understanding of the regulatory environment in which projects are planned. Successful energy projects (and successful service providers, by extension) must comprehend: the business problem, the broader goals and current initiative of the organization, as well as the regulatory environment. Smart project developers look at all of these elements before making recommendations about how to optimize and augment energy strategies for customer organizations. This talk will cover how to think holistically about energy storage solutions for C&I customers with cases studies as examples.

Speaker

Kristel Watson, Centrica Business Solutions