The minutes from the Ontario IESO’s first Demand Response (DR) Working Group meeting (April 3, 2014) and a summary of the public meeting have been posted to: www.ieso.ca/drwg. The sessions provided an overview of the IESO’s new lead role in demand response and the work to date on the integration of current DR3 resources into the market. The meetings also highlighted the IESO’s plans for DR integration and development, including potential demonstration projects, and role of stakeholders and the DR Working Group.
Over the summer months, the Demand Response Working Group plans to continue its work on development of transitional market rules and the design of a demand response auction process. The agenda and materials for the next DR Working Group meeting (June 3, 2014) were posted to www.ieso.ca/drwg. The discussion will focus on current measurement and verification, compliance regimes for DR, and how these have been treated in other jurisdictions. In addition, information related to potential DR pilots and a high-level design for a DR auction will be discussed.
The Minister of Energy recently issued a letter to the IESO that confirms the transition of responsibility of both existing and future DR initiatives from the Ontario Power Authority to the IESO. In a subsequent letter, the OPA also asked the IESO to implement changes to the trigger and activation processes for resources in the DR3 program to allow these resources to be integrated with the IESO’s market dispatch.