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Football stadium

Inside Gillette Stadium’s Demand-Side Energy Strategy

Supporting Grid Reliability Through Demand Response

Through demand response programs, New England energy consumers earn payments for reducing consumption temporarily when called upon. These programs provide valuable standby capacity to prevent blackouts and other grid disturbances when the electric grid encounters emergency conditions.

 

Participation in demand response also results in cleaner, more affordable electricity throughout New England by helping to reduce the need for expensive, fossil fuel-dependent infrastructure to supply electricity when demand is high.

 

How Gillette Stadium Maximizes Earnings and Flexibility

Gillette Stadium’s facilities staff worked closely with Enel X to create an optimal strategy to maximize demand response earnings.

 

The stadium’s energy reduction plan involves:

  • Shutting down HVAC units in select areas of the stadium
  • Shutting down non-essential lighting
  • Reducing usage of water chillers

 

In exchange, the stadium receives standby payments for agreeing to participate, as well as payments for their performance when called upon. Since 2017, the stadium has earned more than $100K through its participation in multiple programs.

 

Gillette Stadium’s energy reduction plan also helps to reduce capacity charges on the electricity bill, which are calculated based on the stadium’s peak electricity usage at the time when demand on the electric grid is its highest over the course of the year. This approach has significantly reduced the stadium’s electricity costs, while also making peak demand levels easier and less expensive to maintain for New England’s electric grid operator and utilities.

 

Reducing Costs by Streamlining Utility Bill Processes

Gillette Stadium also partners with Enel X to consolidate and manage monthly bills for more than 80 utility accounts spanning the stadium and Patriot Place, the shopping center surrounding the stadium.

 

Enel X’s utility bill management solution:

  • Automates the collection and processing of utility bill data, eliminating the need for manual data entry
  • Provides visibility into both site- and portfolio-level energy cost drivers, with granularity into line items and in-depth reporting
  • Automatically collects, formats, and uploads data to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s ENERGY STAR program, which rates commercial buildings based on energy efficiency

 

Through the partnership with Enel X, Gillette Stadium is able to streamline its energy costs and management processes while contributing to a more reliable, sustainable, and affordable electric grid in its community.

 

Click here to read the press release.