World Energy Makes Bold Smart Grid Debut, Launches Auction-Based Exchange for Demand Response
24 Fevereiro 2010 - 9:00AM
PR Newswire (US)
World DR Exchange(TM) Creates First Online Marketplace for Demand
Response, Helps Customers Maximize Share of Curtailment Revenues
WORCESTER, MA, Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- World Energy
Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: XWES; TSX: XWE), an operator of online
exchanges for energy and green commodities, today unveiled the
World DR Exchange(TM), a new auction platform that changes the
economic and competitive dynamics of the multi-billion dollar
demand response (DR) market. The World DR Exchange creates the
industry's first online marketplace for demand response, enabling
customers to source DR more efficiently and effectively. With World
Energy, companies now can engage curtailment service providers
(CSPs) in highly-structured auction events designed to yield price
transparency, heighten competition, and maximize their share of
demand response revenues. "Just as we have done for energy
procurement in deregulated markets, World Energy is now doing for
demand response - creating an efficient, transparent and liquid
marketplace that benefits customers and suppliers alike," said
Richard Domaleski, CEO of World Energy. "For customers, The World
DR Exchange answers the key question, 'what is the market value of
my curtailable load?' - netting them more DR dollars in the
process. For CSPs, it addresses the high cost of customer
acquisition, providing a low-cost channel to qualified customers."
Demand response is one of energy technology's highest growth
sectors, with Barclays Capital estimating the market could grow to
$20 billion annually by 2020. In demand response, CSPs work with
customers to curtail energy usage during times of peak demand,
providing a valuable service to grid operators, one that can
prevent blackouts and reduce the need for building new power
plants. In return for this service, operators pay a set price per
megawatt to CSPs, who in turn pass on a portion of this payment to
their customers. For companies looking to keep more of their
curtailment proceeds, the World DR Exchange offers a compelling new
way to engage the CSP community. "In a tight economy like this one,
maximizing our demand response revenue was very important to us as
a government utility, and World Energy delivered," said Doug
Jackson, P.E., Director of Operations and Maintenance at the
Allegheny County Sanitary Authority (ALCOSAN). Added Tony
DeFilippo, President of Chrislynn Energy Services, Inc., an energy
consultancy with commercial and industrial customers in
Pennsylvania and other PJM markets and ALCOSAN's advisor in this
process: "World Energy understands demand response and made the
process of sourcing a provider easy and, ultimately, more
financially beneficial for our client. World Energy brought
together the top-tier CSPs ALCOSAN wanted - and others hungry for
their business - in an online auction event that fueled intense
competition and delivered a clear winner. Simply put, the World DR
Exchange helped ALCOSAN get more, a lot more, for its demand
response." Another satisfied customer, John Metzger, CFO of
Gerber's Poultry, Inc., commented: "A month or so ago, we didn't
know much about demand response, but today, thanks to a prior
investment we had made in back-up generation, a recent seminar on
the topic, and our work with World Energy, we have over $100,000 in
new DR revenue coming back to our facility. This was a new process
for us, and World Energy made it easy, bringing together several
providers to bid for our business in a nicely structured online
event. "We found watching the auction unfold very exciting: there
wasn't much bidding activity at first, but as the end point of the
auction drew near, the bids were flying, driving up our overall
share of revenue. World Energy provides an excellent process for
sourcing DR, one that really drives competition and benefits the
customer." How It Works World Energy is an expert in auctioning
energy and environmental commodities. The firm has run over 14,000
successful pricing events on its award-winning exchanges, The World
Energy Exchange(R) and The World Green Exchange(R). The World DR
Exchange(TM) builds on this lineage, delivering a state of the art
system and process for auctioning demand response. The DR auction
process mirrors that of World Energy's energy transactions. World
Energy consults with its clients, develops and markets their RFPs
to the CSP community, runs the online auction - typically a series
of auctions testing various terms - and, upon selection by the
customer, awards the winning contract. On the World DR Exchange,
CSPs bid against each other in real-time "forward auctions,"
driving up the percent of DR revenue the winner will share with the
customer. World Energy offers its services on a performance basis
with its fees paid by the winning CSP. "As former COO of PJM, the
country's largest active demand response market, I saw firsthand
the benefits DR provides to wholesale competitive markets," said
Audrey Zibelman, President and CEO of Viridity Energy, Inc., a
smart grid technology firm and participant in the demand response
auction events that specializes in the development of virtual power
generation. "World Energy provides an easy entry point for
businesses into these competitive wholesale markets. The future
smart grid supports deep and broad participation in these markets,
which will in turn promote greater efficiencies along with greater
market penetration for clean, distributed energy resources - a
vision shared by both Viridity and World Energy." For more
information on World Energy and the World DR Exchange, including a
video with Company President, Phil Adams, please see:
http://www.worldenergy.com/dr. About World Energy Solutions, Inc.
World Energy (NASDAQ: XWES; TSX: XWE) operates online exchanges for
energy and green commodities. For buyers and sellers of
electricity, natural gas, capacity, demand response, and
green-energy assets, World Energy's proven approach has transformed
the normally complex procurement process into a powerful,
streamlined vehicle for cost savings. In addition to enabling
customers to seek competitive pricing on traditional energy
commodities, World Energy is taking a leadership position in the
emerging environmental-commodities markets. Its award-winning World
Green Exchange(R) supports the ground-breaking Regional Greenhouse
Gas Initiative's (RGGI) cap and trade program for CO2 emissions.
For more information, please visit http://www.worldenergy.com/.
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are
subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results
to differ from those indicated in the forward-looking statements.
Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to: our
revenue is dependent on actual future energy purchases pursuant to
completed procurements; the demand for our services is affected by
changes in regulated prices or cyclicality or volatility in
competitive market prices for energy; there are factors outside our
control that affect transaction volume in the electricity market;
and there are other factors identified in our Annual Report on Form
10-K and subsequent reports filed with the Securities and Exchange
Commission. DATASOURCE: World Energy Solutions, Inc. CONTACT:
Investor Relations, Phil Adams, World Energy Solutions, Inc., (508)
459-8100, ; Media Relations, Dan Mees, World Energy Solutions,
Inc., (508) 459-8156, ; or Craig Armitage, The Equicom Group, (416)
815-0700 x278,
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