Protecting The Energy Grid: Rudin Uses Nantum OS’ Machine Learning For Automated Demand Response
New York—August 11, 2022—New York City grid operators NYISO and ConEd are asking commercial landlords for help to beat the summer heat. Deadly heat waves continue to grip the city for weeks on end with many consecutive days hotter than 90 degrees, straining the grid as New Yorkers reached for faster fans and lowered thermostats to stay comfortable during the hottest week of the year thus far. Grid operators issued a formal demand response event, calling for energy conservation as exceedingly high electricity demand threatened to outpace supply. Building owners and operators capable of reducing energy use to help improve the resiliency of the grid were able to reap significant savings and earn hefty incentives during critical hours.
Protecting Grids From Climate Change
Although legislation at local and global levels is unable to agree on how to best prepare for climate change, the weather so far during Summer 2022 tells a clear story that climate change is already happening. The average U.S. temperature for July was 76.42 degrees Fahrenheit which is 2.8 degrees above average and the third hottest for any month on record, according to data released by the NOAA earlier this week. Adding in heavy rainfall causing devastating floods across the country and droughts in others, it’s been a summer of extreme and unusual weather patterns.
An effect of increasing summer temperatures is additional strain on the nation’s electric grids. Faced with the need to balance electricity supply with customer demand at all times, grid operators play a complex game of forecasting power resources available on the grid to match their customer needs or face consequences in the form of forced rolling blackouts, unhappy customers, and steep price increases.
Real estate owners and tenants can play a significant role in the resiliency and reliable operation of the electric grid by reducing electricity demand during peak periods of stress. Known as Demand Response (DR) programs, power customers can voluntarily curtail their energy demand in exchange for financial incentives. When the utility or grid operator calls a DR event, customers enrolled in such programs reduce electricity usage for a defined period of time. Recently, new technologies and automation are helping both utilities and their power customers more reliably participate in these highly impactful programs.
Nantum OS & Automated Demand Response
Rudin Management Company was able to participate in the summer’s first week of New York City DR events during July’s sweltering heat wave through Prescriptive Data’s Nantum OS, an award-winning platform optimizing building’s operational performance while saving energy, reducing carbon emissions, and lowering costs without sacrificing occupant health or comfort.
The above shows one of Rudin's buildings during the demand response event lasting from 11:00 AM to 3:00 PM July 21, 2022. The red line is the building's unique calculated baseline for the day according to ConEd’s Commercial System Relief Program (CSRP) while the yellow line represents the building's energy curtailment target, from their seasonal nomination. The blue line shows the building's actual energy use, which is far lower than the curtailment targets. With Nantum, demand response efforts went above and beyond reduction targets, giving Rudin the possibility of increasing their DR performance incentive for this event.
“Rudin Management is at the forefront of adopting advanced building technologies that utilize automation for grid flexibility as well as energy reduction,” said Cindy Zhu, Director of Grid Services at Prescriptive Data. “As climate change causes summer temperatures to soar, our electric grid is feeling the strain more than ever. There has never been a more urgent time to seize opportunities to reduce energy load during times of grid constraints to improve grid reliability. We’re proud Nantum enables building operators to maximize on these opportunities while providing benefits to the grid.”
Sustainability Needs ROI
Rudin enlisted Prescriptive Data’s expertise to participate in the New York Independent System Operator’s (NYISO’s) Special Case Resources (SCR) program and Con Edison’s Commercial System Relief Program (CSRP) and Distribution Load Relief Program (DLRP) during the summer DR season.
“Buildings that interact with the grid create new opportunities to maintain grid reliability during peak energy usage periods and to reduce costs for building owners and operators and utility companies during critical times in New York City’s power supply,” said Gene Boniberger, SVP of Operations of Rudin Management Company. “The ability to modify energy use depending on cost and carbon intensity ensures the grid supply stays balanced. It also optimizes renewable energy generation capacity and distribution within the grid at scale.”
As a Nantum OS customer, Rudin uses Nantum’s free Automated Demand Response application (ADR) to automatically curtail load when called upon by the utility. The module deploys a dynamic baseline calculation engine unique to each utility territory’s DR program. This calculation gives building operators the ability to measure their curtailment performance in real time, allowing for the maximization of financial incentives for reducing load.
Once enrolled and enabled, participation when called upon is automated. When given the signal, Nantum OS automatically executes priority energy curtailment measures in line with agreed-upon commitments. Rudin’s building operators use the DR app to monitor performance in real-time against their DR commitments. Prescriptive Data is an approved DR Aggregator in the NYISO SCR and ConEd CSRP & DLRP programs and enrolls Nantum DR customers into their programs of choice while allowing customers to keep 100% of DR incentive revenue. While results vary, using Nantum and committing to demand response programs have been proven to earn between $27,000-$107,000 per building annually, totaling almost $800,000 per year for the portfolio.
Beyond Demand Response Events, There Is Demand Management
Outside of official demand response events, Rudin uses Nantum’s Automated Demand Management (ADM) App to continuously manage energy demand, reducing peak demand spikes and saving roughly 7-10% in demand charges monthly. The Nantum ADM app uses machine learning algorithms to accurately forecast a building’s energy load based on historical performance and localized weather patterns. Suppose a building is likely to set a new peak within the monthly billing period. In that case, Nantum will automatically trigger curtailment measures to avoid resetting the peak, leading to a flatter, more predictable energy load and significantly reduced peak demand charges on utility bills.
By leveraging Prescriptive Data’s Nantum OS, energy consumption and demand at 14 prestigious Rudin New York office properties are optimized through smarter building operations. This saves Rudin thousands of dollars and demonstrates how grid-interactive, energy-efficient buildings can generate revenue and reduce operational energy use and emission reductions by millions of tons. Nantum ADR and ADM put Rudin’s assets at the forefront of grid flexibility and drive profitability.
About Prescriptive Data’s Nantum OS:
Nantum OS is an artificial intelligence and machine learning climate technology designed for commercial real estate operators and sustainability managers. Nantum OS allows real estate managers to visualize building HVAC systems, metering systems, people counting systems, IoT devices (air quality, lighting, shade, smart glass), distributed energy systems (battery storage, fuel cells, on-site generation equipment, solar), and third-party datasets in real time. Nantum OS uses real-time AI/ML algorithms to reduce building energy demand, suppress carbon emissions, and shrink utility costs. Each building on Nantum OS uses the least amount of energy and carbon emissions while delivering the maximum amount of health and comfort to occupied spaces.
About Rudin Management Company:
Rudin Management Company is a full-service real estate organization managing the interests of the Rudin Family, which owns and manages one of the largest privately-owned commercial and residential property portfolios in New York City. Among the real estate holdings of the Rudin family, which is currently co-developing the high-tech Dock 72 office tower with Boston Properties at Brooklyn Navy Yard, are 16 office buildings containing approximately 10 million square feet of space and 18 apartment buildings comprising over four million square feet of residences. Known for its presence in the Midtown West office market, the Rudin Family has also partnered with the media giant Thomson Reuters in developing their North American headquarters at 3 Times Square. The Rudin Family, with partner Global Holdings, Inc., is also the developer of The Greenwich Lane, a 199-unit luxury condominium in the heart of Manhattan’s West Village.
