(Credit: Pixabay)CPower Energy Management is acquiring the US demand response division of Centrica Business Solutions to help the company strengthen its capabilities to provide grid reliability through distributed energy resources.
Centrica provides commercial and industrial load management with operations in the northeastern US and Texas. The acquisition will help CPower strengthen its position in providing grid flexibility and reliability through distributed energy resources (DER), with nearly 6.3 gigawatts of capacity at more than 17,000 sites across the country.
CPower has more than 2,000 DER commercial and industrial customers, including in retail, data centers, commercial real estate, education, government, and manufacturing. The company’s projects include a building management system that enables grid-interactive energy-efficient buildings in New York City.
Centrica helps organizations with energy efficiency plans and delivers the load management systems across utility areas such as PJM, ISO-New England, New York ISO, and ERCOT in Texas. They have taken on several projects to improve energy efficiencies across the country, such as helping with resiliency for the New York Housing Authority, or a project with the Tennessee Department of Correction that is estimated to save $1 million in utility costs.
A DER is a small unit of power generation that operates locally and is connected to a larger grid for distribution. They include tools like microgrids and solar and battery systems.
They can help provide grid reliability, which has been of growing importance in instances of high demand and power outages, such as a recent heatwave in Texas, where power facilities went offline and ERCOT asked customers to take energy conservation measures. Whole communities, such as a project in Richmond, California, are taking on DERs, and standards on the tool are also increasing.
The transaction is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022 and is subject to regulatory approval and customary closing conditions. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.
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