Target prepares to save energy

When the lights dimmed and temperature warmed at the Target store in Township on Wednesday afternoon, it was only a test, but it’s indicative of an issue that could affect much more than the afternoon shopping crowd.

The lights and air-conditioning were dialed back to 50 percent for several hours and returned around 4:15 p.m., human resources manager Erin Carden said. The event is part of a “demand response” program the corporation participates in, she said, in which the company agrees to have its electricity usage curtailed whenever demand is forecasted to reach a high level.

Such peak times are usually during sweltering summer weekday afternoons, when energy-hungry air-conditioning units are added to the usual draw from workplaces and retail shops. A demand that exceeds production will cause brownouts and blackouts, disrupting nearly every aspect of modern life.

Carden said the decisions and actions come from corporate headquarters, and employees rarely find out much before the lights dim. “Basically what happens here is our lights go down, and we know it’s an event and we put a sign on the door.”

The signs bear information on the program and explain why the lights are lower. The store will operate on reduced power, she said, up to six hours depending on the type of curtailment required – there are two programs: a “reserve” that lasts up to an hour and a “capacity event” that lasts between two hours and six hours.

Energy demand wasn’t excessively high on Wednesday afternoon, however, and the event wasn’t in response to any reduction request, according to representatives of both PPL Electric Utilities and PJM Interconnection, which operates the mid-Atlantic regional electricity grid.

The reduction was likely a test performed by a company that oversees demand-reduction actions, said Paula Dupont-Kidd, a PJM spokeswoman. Such “curtailment service providers,” as she called them, are companies that pool together large energy users willing to temporarily and sporadically reduce their energy consumption in exchange for discounts and rates reductions, she said.

The pooling company, however, is required to show PJM it’s able to reduce demand among its clients when necessary, and it does so by running drills, she said.

“We have to know that it’s going to work and that, if it’s called for, it’s going to happen,” she said.