Load Shifting During Critical Summer Hours via Programmable Irrigation
AgMonitor Inc.
Recipient
San Mateo, CA
Recipient Location
13th
Senate District
21st
Assembly District
$307,199
Amount Spent
Completed
Project Status
Project Result
Project team met the stated project goal of at least 7MW of permanent on-peak irrigation load shifted to off-peak (actual for summer 2022 was 10MW during the critical summer months). For 2023, the team's goal was at least 25MW of permanent agricultural load shift (PLS) and 25MW of emergency load reduction program (ELRP) participation. Overall for 2023, AgMonitor had 41MW on PLS program, but many wells were not used due to high surface water availability (2023 was a wet year). The actual load was 12.5MW and AgMonitor shaved 8MW. AgMonitor had 9MW on ELRP, but there were no emergency events in 2023. The project team is working on the draft final report.
The Issue
Demand response and load shifting in agriculture are not new ideas, but adoption has been limited due to three major hurdles that have not been addressed until now: (1) the integration of smart meter data into simple reports that can be used both by the field crew who operate the irrigation system and the accountant who enrolls the farm in the load shifting program; (2) the ability to irrigate off-peak using irrigation scheduling software that can be applied to both manually and automatically controlled systems; and (3) the ability to perform rate recommendation and reporting when on-farm solar generation resources are present.
Project Innovation
The purpose of this Agreement is to fund the expansion of AgMonitor's innovative technology to help California growers irrigate outside of peak demand periods and achieve permanent load shifting. AgMonitor has developed a comprehensive solution through working closely with California growers that address their concerns with load shifting, while providing simple ROI metrics. AgMonitor will first develop a software tools within their existing software-as-a-service platform that allows farmers to check load shifting capacity with regards to their irrigation constraints and then for seamless integration with both manual and automated irrigation systems). This enhanced software will also provide weekly and annual reporting that allows grows to check their performance weekly and receive high level feedback on an annual basis to show cost-effectiveness. The proposed project will be deployed on at least 10,000 acres of farmland and will achieve at least 7 MW of load shifting over the 2-year project duration, with a least 3 MW achieved by August 1st, 2021.
Project Goals
Project Benefits
By increasing ratepayer participation in the agricultural sector in permanent load shifting. Technical and practical hurdles have prevented California growers from participating in these programs. The addition of planning, operations, and reporting DR features to the AgMonitor software platform will help growers overcome these hurdles and shift 7 MW of power off the grid during peak times.
Reliability
Promoting grid stability and reliability by shift agricultural pump load from peak times to off-peak times.
Subrecipients
Naico ITS, Inc
West Hills College Coalinga
Center for Irrigation Technology at California State University Fresno
Match Partners
AgMonitor Inc.
Aduro Accounting &
Consulting, LLC
Mamala Research, LLC
Center for Irrigation Technology at California State University Fresno
