All Things DER: How Smart Thermostats Can Advance the Mission of Cleaner Energy
Welcome to the All Things DER podcast! In this podcast, we’ll be digging in, defining, and discussing where the new energy economy is heading with electric industry leaders, and explore all the ways that distributed energy resources can modernize and improve our ever-evolving power grid.
In today’s episode, we’re talking with Jacob Tetlow, the Executive Vice President of Operations at Arizona Public Service Company. We discuss the impact that clean energy can have as we modernize the grid and focus on the fast-growing customer interest in solar power. From an innovative smart thermostat program to exploring key factors in the successful implementation of greener energy, we dig into a variety of ways to identify new opportunities and drive the mission of cleaner energy forward.
Here’s what you’ll discover:
- Why cost and reliability are key factors transitioning to clean energy, and what APS is doing to achieve this progression
- How Arizona managed a rapid increase in solar demand from customers, and why this presents unique challenges during nonpeak times
- What APS’s Cool Rewards smart thermostat program is, and how it benefits all customers in their territory (not just the customers enrolled in the program)
- Why finding synergistic solutions to area-specific challenges is a great way to incorporate DERMS technology
- How bringing customers in on finding creative solutions can provide a win-win in the long term
- Why having an innovation-driven team within an organization can benefit both DER advancements and the core operations simultaneously