Characterization of demand response in the commercial, industrial, and residential sectors in the United States

The goal of this study is to provide an overview of demand response (DR) technologies, including standards and end uses, in the United States and describe resource characteristics and the attributes of 14 specific DR resources in the U.S. commercial, residential, and industrial sectors. The attributes reviewed for the end uses being considered are response frequency, response time, the need for and impacts of energy pre- or recharge, the cost of enabling a resource to respond to a load-curtailment signal, and the magnitude of load curtailment in a given resource. We also describe controls and communications technologies that can enable end uses to participate in DR programs. The characterization was initially developed as a foundational work to quantify hourly availability of DR resources from the selected end uses followed by a multi-laboratory effort that quantified DR's value within the Western Interconnectiona. WIREs Energy Environ 2016, 5:288–304. doi: 10.1002/wene.176