Search
Menu

Becoming a Small Battery Program Partner

During times of peak electric grid load, Efficiency Maine buys power from aggregators of small batteries (Program Partners). If your company would like to become an Efficiency Maine Small Battery Program Partner, email info@efficiencymaine.com with “Small Battery Program” in the subject line. A program overview is below. For details, refer to the Small Battery Program Opportunity Notice.

Incentive

  1. $200 per year per kW discharged, averaged over all peak load events in a Program Year (April 1 through March 31).
    1. The incentive is calculated based on the average discharge across all events in the Program Year.
    2. If customer(s) are not enrolled for a given event or opt out of the event, the performance of those customer(s) will be counted as 0 kW for that event.
    3. The aggregated average kW for your portfolio of batteries must be at least 50 kW for one or more events. If this threshold is not met, no incentive will be paid for the Program Year.
    4. Incentives are paid annually in June.
  2. There is no program enrollment fee.
  3. Customers can opt out at any time. Incentives are paid based on capacity discharged.
    1. If a customer doesn’t participate in an event at all, the battery discharge will be considered zero for that event when the annual average is calculated.
    2. If a customer participates in only a portion of an event, performance will be calculated on a prorated basis. Example: If a customer contributes 9 kW for one hour of a 3-hour event, the average contribution for that event will count as 3 kW (9 kW / 3 hours).

    Eligibility

    1. Program Partner
      1. Any form of aggregator may join the program including and not limited to Third Party Owners, battery manufacturers, and/or installers.
      2. Individual battery owners must participate through a Program Partner.
    2. Battery
      1. Must be interconnected according to utility guidelines.
      2. Must have an inverter capable of collecting and reporting hourly interval data.
      3. Cannot participate in any other Efficiency Maine battery program or pilot program.
    3. Customer
      1. Must be on a Maine utility residential or business (Small General Service, or General Service) rate.
      2. May also have solar generation, but it is not required.

    Events

    1. There will be at least 2 events every month.
    2. There will be a maximum of 60 events per year.
    3. Events will be 3 hours long.
    4. Efficiency Maine will decide when to call events and will notify Program Partners one day ahead.
    5. Events may be called at any time and will typically be between 5:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. weekdays.

    Terms

    1. Program Years run from April 1 through March 31.
    2. Agreements cover the remainder of the initial Program Year following application approval, plus 10 additional Program Years. For example, if a Program Partner joins the program on October 1 (6 months into the Program Year), the agreement will end 10.5 years later.
    3. Batteries in this Program are not eligible for other Efficiency Maine programs until their term in this program expires.
    4. Efficiency Maine may choose to stop enrolling new customers at any time with 90-day notice.
    5. All events in a Program Year count towards the annual average discharge for the incentive calculation, even if a given battery was not enrolled for all of them. For example, if a customer enrolls a battery 6 months into a Program Year, then events from the first 6 months of that Program Year count as 0 kW for that battery.

    Role of Efficiency Maine

    1. When a Program Partner requests to enroll a customer, Efficiency Maine will:
      1. Verify customer eligibility.
      2. Confirm the customer is not already enrolled by another Program Partner.
      3. Confirm that funding is available.
      4. Provisionally reserve funds for the Program Partner based on its customer’s device.
    2. Forecast and send 24-hour advance notice of events.
    3. Calculate and pay incentives to Program Partners based on inverter data.
    4. Use smart meter interval data to check a random sample of accounts (QA).
    5. Conduct program audits.

    Role of Program Partner

    1. Agree to Efficiency Maine contract requirements.
    2. Recruit customers.
    3. Enter into program participation agreements with customers, to include customer consent for access, disclosure, and use of site-specific data by the Trust.
    4. Determine customer incentive (at Program Partner discretion).
    5. Enroll customers, providing Efficiency Maine with:
      1. Customer name;
      2. Customer phone number;
      3. Customer email;
      4. Customer’s electric utility account number;
      5. Name of customer’s electric utility
      6. Installation address, and
      7. Device details (manufacturer, model, battery serial number, inverter serial number, kWh capacity, and continuous kW discharge capability).
    6. Dispatch batteries when alerted by Efficiency Maine.
    7. Provide technical support to customers.
    8. Provide battery performance data from inverter to Efficiency Maine as requested, typically once when the Program Partner first joins and once at the end of each Program Year.
    9. Distribute incentives to customers. (Customers will be customers of Program Partners only and the Trust will have no direct relationship with or obligation to disburse any incentive amounts to customers).
    10. Provide to Efficiency Maine upon request:
      1. Customer contact information;
      2. Customer agreements with Program Partner, and
      3. Other information needed for program audits
    11. Program Partner has no authority to bind or make any representations or commitments on behalf of the Trust. Program Partner is solely responsible for management of its customer relationships.