Honeywell (News - Alert), a diversified technology and manufacturing company, announced it has partnered with Hawaiian Electric in Honolulu for a pilot program that uses demand response technology to help integrate more intermittent renewable energy to the electric grid.

As part of the pilot, Hawaiian Electric will test a “fast demand response” (Fast DR) technology that helps utility and facilities reduce the demand within 10 minutes of notification that shows a pending imbalance between supply and demand. When Fast DR events are triggered, utilities also receive an additional per-kilowatt hour incentive credit, which is translated into thousands of dollars in annual savings.

“Increasing renewable energy requires new and more advanced methods of managing reliability, especially given the variable nature of wind and solar. Our demand response strategy engages our customers in the total solution,” said Scott Seu, Hawaiian Electric vice president for energy resources, in a statement. “This project will lay the groundwork for new programs to advance a clean energy future for Hawaii.”

The two-year pilot will help the utility connect with commercial and industrial customers to temporarily reduce the need for electricity. Currently Hawaiian Electric relies on fossil fuels to manage the inherent intermittency associated with certain types of renewable energy and other interruptions in grid stability.

Fast DR will help Hawaiian Electric reduce the dependence of fossil fuels. It will validate the technical design and tariffs for a full-scale demand response program, enabling the utility to support Hawaii’s renewable energy goals and contribute to the state-wide effort to increase energy independence, security and sustainability.

“Generating ‘negawatts’ — or reducing demand — is the cheapest and greenest way to meet electricity needs,” said Paul Orzeske, president of  Honeywell Building Solutions, in a statement. “This project will validate that demand response can deliver negawatts in an accelerated timeframe. Utilities across the globe have ambitious renewable energy goals, and Hawaiian Electric’s groundbreaking work will provide a template for solving the challenge of intermittency.”

The second phase of the project will include the use of automated demand response (Auto DR) tools from Honeywell, including Akuacom and Tridium technologies. The Demand Response Automation Server (DRAS) software from Akuacom will help the utility manage its resources and events, while a Tridium smart grid controller will poll the DRAS for event signals.

Upon receiving the trigger, the controller will communicate with the site’s building management system to automatically execute load-shed measures the customer sets in advance, such as cycling air conditioners, and turning off non-essential lights, pumps and motors, the company said in a press release.

In a related development, Honeywell International recently announced a smart grid project that will help SSE plc connect up to 30 commercial and industrial buildings in the Thames Valley area west of London, and temporarily reduce electricity consumption when overall use spikes.

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