Sustainability effort earns UTSA rebate from CPS Energy

UTSA’s Paul Goodman accepts a check from Clayton Kruse of CPS Energy for the university’s participation in the Commercial Demand Response program.

Dec. 13, 2019 — UTSA has received a large incentive from CPS Energy for its energy-saving efforts during the warmest months in San Antonio, part of a university drive to improve campus sustainability.

UTSA earned a rebate of about $56,000 for being a part of the Commercial Demand Response program, in which customers have the opportunity to earn funds for reducing the amount of electricity during a conservation event.

“UTSA has a vested interest in partnering with San Antonio’s sole electric power provider, CPS Energy,” Paul Goodman, interim associate vice president for UTSA Facilities, said. “UTSA’s participation in the Demand Response program helps reduce the electric grid’s peak load during high demand in the summer months, which helps CPS Energy manage its resources better energy saving and enhancing efforts.”

From June 1 through September 30, program participants are notified by CPS between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. about conservation events. The events usually last about three hours with 25 of them occurring per season, according to the CPS Energy website.

The integral part of the program’s strategy was to save 771 megawatts by 2020.

“We want to reduce at the peak. In the grand scheme of things that prevents San Antonio customers from experiencing rolling brownouts,” Ramon Gonzales, CPS Energy account manager for UTSA, said. “That’s the worst-case scenario. It wouldn’t be optional for the customers because we would be directed by the Energy Reliability Council of Texas.”

ERCOT manages about 90% of Texas’ electric load by scheduling power on the electric grids that connect more than 45,000 miles of transmission lines and 650 plus generation units.

“They would be telling us that we need to implement rolling brownouts and we don’t want to do that,” Gonzales said. “We ask customers to volunteer for programs like these and it helps from having to do something like that.”

During the conservation events, staff members from UTSA are working around campus looking for opportunities to reduce energy, such as replacing energy-efficient equipment.

The money received from CPS Energy will go toward “reinvesting into energy efficiency measures,” said Rene Colunga, UTSA’s director of Utility Management.

“We’ll do lighting upgrades or switch out more energy-efficient technology. All of this plays in with the money we get back and we’re reducing energy costs on campus at the same time,” Colunga said. “This itself does not reduce energy costs specifically, but outlying programs that precipitate from this will save energy.”

— Valerie Bustamante

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