Siemens (News - Alert) has announced that the company is among the first participants in the Demand Response Wholesale Market Pilot (DRWMP) in San Diego Gas & Electric's service territory.

Optimizing load shedding and shifting while maintaining comfortable interior environments for occupants at each location, Siemens SureGrid platform automatically monitors building operating conditions and occupancy in real time based on pre-defined business rules. Providing a real-time aggregation of load data that is transmitted to the California ISO, the Siemens aggregation engine combines a variety of different building types into a single virtual portfolio, using networked energy meters installed at each building.

The DRWMP has been designed to be a vehicle to support the transition of programs into the CAISO markets and to support and inform the 2012-2014 demand response program application due in February of 2011.

“SureGrid was designed to enable utilities and building operators to fully leverage advanced forms of Demand Response such as the DRWMP," said Colin Bester, Director for Siemens Retail and Commercial Systems. "We have been refining and improving the SureGrid platform for several years and it is gratifying to be among the first to participate in the California wholesale market with virtual generation. We look forward to using this program to further prove our ability.”

As part of utility participation requirements, SureGrid responds to load dispatch requests with virtually no notice. This is a feature proven during San Diego Gas & Electric's DRWMP predecessor, the Participating Load Pilot program. To present load characteristics to wholesale electricity markets that are equivalent to traditional gas or coal-fired peaking power plants, SureGrid uses a cloud-computing platform connected to web-enabled building controls.

Recently, the company appointed David McIntosh as vice president for federal lobbying, effective June 27, 2011. McIntosh will help oversee legislative and regulatory issues within the Government Affairs office. He comes to Siemens from the Environmental Protection Agency, where he served as a senior political advisor to Administrator Lisa Jackson and the Associate Administrator for Congressional and Intergovernmental Relations, the company has stated.