Demand Response Specialist CPower Snags Cash from Intel

By Michael Kanellos

CPower raised $10.68 million in April and Wednesday the company said it got an additional infusion of cash from Intel (INTC) Capital.

The amount from Intel was undisclosed. CPower will be part of Intel's Open Energy Initiative.

CPower, which was founded as ConsumerPowerline in 2001 and changed its name in 2008, has gathered a portfolio of about 2,200 megawatts under management. Earlier this year it landed a 200-megawatt demand response contract with Maryland utilities Allegheny Power, Delmarva Power and Light Company and Potomac Electric Power Company (PEPCO).

That puts it in a roster of demand response competitors including EnerNoc (ENOC), Comverge (COMV), EnergyConnect and Constellation NewEnergy in terms of power under management. These companies help customers take part in utility or grid operator programs that pay for the promise to cut energy use when they're facing peak loads.

That makes demand response aggregators providers of "negawatts" that help utilities avoid the need to build coal- or gas-fired "peaker" plants (see EnerNoc Harvests Power in Maryland). Most demand response companies work with commercial and industrial clients, though a few like Comverge also participate in residential demand response programs (see Demand Response: The Home vs. C&I Debate).

Comments

[danno]

CPower actually provides the best service of any of the Demand-Response service providers that we have seen and the difference is huge. Utility-based providers in particular only skim the cream off the market, but CPower actually helps the customer conserve energy all the time, not just at peak hours. Moreover, it is technology neutral and doesn't lock customers into expensive proprietary hardware.

2009 Jul 30 10:56 AM