Efficiency Vermont’s Approach to Energy Resilience
As the energy industry undergoes a rapid increase in the use of renewable energy, Efficiency Vermont is supporting customers and Vermont’s energy system in that evolution through the delivery of energy efficiency and flexible load management programs, long-term resource planning, and emerging technology development. As customers electrify their thermal and transportation loads, their impact on grid stability (or instability) increases—while also driving an increased dependence on the grid. Increased severe weather events and reliance on intermittently available renewable energy present additional reliability risks. As Efficiency Vermont co-designs systems-optimized programs and services with partners, we also ensure the benefits of energy resilience are distributed equitably across Vermont through the purposeful allocation of resources and opportunities to promote equitable outcomes across the state. For this R&D project, Efficiency Vermont sought to define an appropriate role for supporting customers to achieve energy resilience (as allowed within VEIC’s Order of Appointment), mapped Vermont’s policies and regulations related to energy, and mapped Vermont’s energy system from the perspective of customer energy resilience. The research team identified ways to improve customer energy resilience, including a communications strategy that cultivates a culture of energy resilience, sustaining resilience efforts by serving customers and utilities together, utilizing demonstration pilot projects, and measuring impact by quantifying the value of resilience for stakeholders that could be incorporated into future demand resource plans.