Demand Flexibility

LBNL is leading a long-term research effort to assess the potential demand response resource in California, in support of the CPUC. The California Demand Response Potential Study was designed with two goals: (1) to bridge the analysis of distributed energy resources (DERs) with grid investment and operations and (2) to communicate the results of the study clearly to power system policymakers and stakeholders who need to synthesize across those domains.

The Phase 2 report  developed an analytic framework that grouped DR services into four core categories to address different power system needs: Shape, Shift, Shed and Shimmy. A key finding of the Phase 2 report was that the Shift resource is of great value to the current and emerging electric system. The Phase 3 study provides the CPUC with data-driven insights evaluating how California might use Shift DR in meeting its resource planning needs and operational requirements. The Phase 4 study provided an updated view of future DR resources in California with a dramatically expanded scope including expanded modeling of electrification, forecasts through 2050, and analysis of technical, economic, and achievable potential.

Below are links to the latest reports and data download pages from each phase of the California DR Potential Study.

Phase 1: The 2015 California Demand Response Potential Study

Phase 2: The 2025 California Demand Response Potential Study: final report, regional adendum, and data download.

Phase 3: The Shift Resource Through 2030: final report and data download.

Phase 4: Report on Shed and Shift Resources Through 2050: final report, data download page, webinar slides, and webinar recording.

We are helping to increase participation and lower costs of demand flexibility programs with automated communication protocols. Since 2003, our researchers have helped develop an open, interoperable and secure automation and communication infrastructure called Open Automated Demand Response (OpenADR), which enables a more open and competitive marketplace. OpenADR, now a national smart grid communication protocol in the U.S. and gaining international adoption, facilitates reliable and cost-effective signals of electricity price and system grid reliability, allowing facility operators to automate their responses. Released at the end of 2023, OpenADR 3.0 can support price-based demand flexibility.

Our researchers are developing and demonstrating how self-correcting HVAC control algorithms successfully fixes many common operational problems and also adds demand flexibility capabilities for commercial buildings. Building on industry best practices, demand flexibility is delivered through three control sequences to temporarily adjust occupied space temperatures and chilled water temperatures. Demonstrations with industry partners have been completed, and an expanded second phase of demonstrations is ongoing. Learn more about the Transforming Building Controls projects. 

The presence of storage tanks allows water heaters to shift electric demand without impacting service to the occupants, making water heaters an ideal demand flexibility resource. LBNL has developed controls for both single and multi-family residential style water heaters that shift electric loads in response to both local occupant behavior and electricity prices, minimizing the cost of operating the water heaters while providing full hot water service to the occupants. Both control approaches shift load from times of high demand to times of curtailment, supporting grid reliability and slowing the nation-wide growth in electricity prices. 

LBNL is providing K-12 schools with an advanced control solution that is rapidly deployable, cost-effective, and scalable, enabling them to manage energy usage more intelligently in response to dynamic utility tariffs. The control aims to minimize utility costs while maintaining thermostat temperatures within a strict comfort range, and to provide load flexibility to the grid. To achieve this, a specially designed and field-demonstrated model predictive control (MPC) solution, tailored for typical small and medium-sized commercial buildings (SMCBs) with rooftop air conditioning and heat pump units, has been utilized. Despite offering advanced predictive and optimal control features, the system requires only web-enabled thermostats for installation, significantly reducing both cost and complexity. It delivers over 20% peak load reduction and 15% load shifting, faster payback, and broader market appeal, particularly for MUSH (Municipal, University, School, Hospital) buildings. To date, the control system has been deployed by an industry partner, Community Energy Labs (CEL), across more than 100 school zones in seven school districts, demonstrating strong potential for large-scale adoption.

Currently, as much as 50% of electricity consumption in buildings in the United States goes toward meeting thermal loads. Thermal energy storage (TES) solutions show promise as a cost-effective energy storage alternative, with demand flexibility applications. Stor4Build is a consortium on thermal energy storage for buildings that will accelerate the growth, optimization, and deployment of thermal storage technologies. The consortium is co-led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, and Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

LBNL hosts FLEXGRID®, the premier testbed for building-to-grid integration in DOE’s FLEXLAB® facility. FLEXGRID is a system that enables real-time comparisons between demand, inverters, and storage. We are able to test the use of OpenADR, integrating FLEXGRID's highly instrumented and flexible infrastructure, separately metered and controllable inverters, batteries and building loads.