by Shane Henson — December 16, 2011—Constellation Energy and Marriott International Inc. announced an agreement to develop more than 23 megawatts of load response capability across more than 250 Marriott-managed hotel properties in the mid-Atlantic, New England, New York, Texas and California. Load response is the reduction of electrical consumption in response to high wholesale electricity prices, system resource capacity needs, or system reliability events.
According to Constellation, a leading competitive supplier of power, natural gas, and energy products and services for businesses and homes, its load response program is designed to improve energy efficiency and reduce electricity costs at Marriott properties, while ensuring guest comfort through expanded building automation capability and customized load curtailment strategies.
As part of the agreement, Marriott will leverage Constellation Energy’s VirtuWatt energy management system in concert with existing building automation to track electricity usage, bid directly into demand response markets, and automate load curtailment strategies. Marriott properties may elect to receive financing through Constellation Energy’s load response program to defray the upfront cost of demand response related equipment upgrades, as well as take advantage of load-based utility incentives in markets where available.
Through a partnership with Automated Logic Corporation (ALC), Constellation Energy will implement indirect load control at Marriott properties where ALC systems are installed. Constellation Energy’s VirtuWatt platform will enable Marriott properties with other brands of automation to implement pre-set curtailment scenarios for building systems such as generation, pumping and HVAC, based on load shortages, electricity usage or real-time pricing.
A groundbreaking interface provides facilities operators an intuitive Web-based interface for selecting specific curtailment scenarios on an as-needed basis to match daily business demands. VirtuWatt also provides Marriott International with a centralized system for load control at multiple sites, an enterprise-view of electricity usage, and data grouped by independent system operator or regional transmission organizations.
In addition to Marriot, Constellation Energy manages other load response programs for commercial and industrial customers in the Ontario, New England, New York, California, ERCOT (Electric Reliability Council of Texas), and PJM (Pennsylvania-New Jersey-Maryland Interconnection) regions.
