Frequently Asked Questions
General Questions
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Olivine, Inc. is an industry-leading energy resource management and grid services company. We operate at the intersection of energy supply and demand, environmental sustainability, and equitable energy access. Olivine provides full-service energy resource management infrastructure and services for our residential, commercial and industrial facility clients including market analyses and revenue assessments, resource integration/testing/deployment, and on-going operational management and administrative support for our energy programs. To learn more, visit us on www.olivineinc.com.
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ClimateResponse® Virtual Power Plant (VPP) is Olivine’s solution to empower and financially compensate electricity end-users to temporarily adjust their energy consumption to improve grid resilience and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions to address the climate crisis. Virtual power plants bring together a large number of electricity consumers who work together to provide grid services by reducing their energy use or optimizing their distributed energy resources (DERs ) – just like a real power plant. VPPs make the grid more reliable and resilient to extreme weather, lower energy costs, increase clean energy on the grid and compensate consumers for their participation.
ClimateResponse® VPP engages end-users by delivering real-time information when energy prices and local GHG emissions are high, or when the energy grid is stressed; and educates participants on actions to take to save energy – while offering incentives for program participation. Olivine calculates and reports the energy and environmental impact of ClimateResponse® VPP participation to customers so that they can track the impact they are making to mitigate climate change and increase sustainability.
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Customers that procure electricity from Investor-Owned Utilities (SCE, PG&E and SDG&E), Publicly Owned Utilities, Community Choice Aggregators, or Direct Access customers that have the potential to temporarily reduce their energy use can participate in ClimateResponse® VPP and earn incentives. Customers must not be enrolled in other utility or third-party Demand Response (DR) programs.
CalChoice CCA customers are currently eligible to participate -in the ClimateResponse® VPP Demand Side Grid Support (DSGS) Program participation option and the DSGS guidelines are available here.
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Customers sign up for ClimateResponse® VPP and agree to save energy during ClimateResponse® Events – typically scheduled between 4 - 10pm when energy prices are high, or when the energy grid is stressed. Customers benefit from lower energy bills, create a positive impact on the environment and also earn monetary incentives for their participation.
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By joining ClimateResponse® VPP you will play a key role in demonstrating environmental leadership, strengthening the grid with clean, non-polluting energy resources, and helping to avoid emergency brownouts and blackouts. In addition to reducing your electricity bills and earning program incentives, your facility’s reduction in energy use and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions can be counted towards meeting your corporate social responsibility (CSR), environmental, social and governance (ESG), and climate goals. You will also earn monetary incentives for your participation.
Customers will earn incentives based on how much energy they save during ClimateResponse® Events.
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To become a customer in ClimateResponse® VPP, you need to complete the enrollment process, agree to program terms and conditions and the participation agreement, provide essential participation details, and agree to share your utility information with Olivine, which is needed in order to report on your reduction in energy usage, calculate greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reductions and determine your earnings.
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The ClimateResponse® VPP commitments are detailed out in the program terms and conditions and participation agreement. Please refer to your participation agreement for details or contact customer support at ask@climateresponse.com or call 1-866-306-0829.
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When you agree to share your utility data as part of the enrollment process, you will authorize Olivine, Inc. to be your Demand Response Provider (DRP). As a result, Olivine will have access to some of your utility information including the customer name associated with the account, the service address, rate schedule, meter type, electric usage, billing data, and whether you are enrolled in a utility demand response program. This data will be kept in a secure location as specified by the California Public Utility Commission (CPUC)’s Fair Information Practices guidelines. For more information on the DRP authorization process and data protocols, refer to the CPUC website here.
Enrollment Questions
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When you enroll in ClimateResponse® VPP, Olivine will help manage the flexible energy loads at your facility in order to reduce your electric bills and to help you earn money from participation in ClimateResponse® Events. The following information is needed to help us assess how you can participate:
- Zip Code (to determine which energy provider you’re served by)
- Contact Information (to discuss how your facilities can participate in ClimateResponse® VPP and notify you of ClimateResponse® Events)
- Email address for authorized signer of the Terms and Conditions & Participation Agreement (if you are not authorized to sign)
- Capacity Nomination (to calculate potential energy, environmental and financial impacts of event participation)
- Utility Account Information (to review your utility data, assess how your sites can participate in ClimateResponse® VPP and report on your energy savings and earnings)
- Participation Details (to determine your resources participation plan and report on your resources)
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It can take up to 3 weeks to verify your eligibility in ClimateResponse® VPP. If you are deemed ineligible to participate in ClimateResponse® VPP, customer support will follow up by email with more details.
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You will be notified via email when your enrollment is confirmed.
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The capacity nomination is the estimated target load reduction quantity (kW) for a site during a ClimateResponse® Event. Nominations are required for non-residential customers enrolling in ClimateResponse® VPP. The capacity nomination is a representation of the load reduction capacity (kW) potential in your facilities that is achievable during ClimateResponse® Events. Olivine provides technical assistance to non-residential customers to help determine the appropriate capacity commitment for your facility. Email us at ask@climateresponse.com or call 1-866-306-0829 for more information.
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Olivine reserves the right to remove customers from ClimateResponse® market-integrated program options, if they consistently fail to meet their nomination commitment and/or fail to provide all needed information and data needed for enrollment. Customers can adjust their capacity nomination on a monthly basis by submitting a request to ask@climateresponse.com.
Questions about ClimateResponse® Events
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ClimateResponse® Events are triggered by high wholesale market prices, and when the electric grid is facing supply shortages which might result in power outages and grid emergencies. We may also trigger test events occasionally to either test our ability to automatically send signals to your technologies during an event or to validate capacity nominations.
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When a ClimateResponse® Event is called, an email from notification@olivineinc.com will be sent to the designated point of contact. You will also get notified via SMS text if we have a mobile number on file for you. ClimateResponse® Event notifications will be typically sent to all participants by 5 PM the day before the event
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An event notification will contain relevant details about the event, such as the type of the event (emergency or market event), date of the event, its start time and duration, so that you know when to reduce energy usage in your home or facility.
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There will be a maximum of 10 non-emergency events per month, called for a minimum of 1 hour and maximum of 4 hours.
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You will miss out on an opportunity to earn lucrative financial incentives if you do not respond to event notifications.
Questions about incentives and payments
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Customers will earn incentives as per the specifications of the program terms and conditions. Non-residential customers will get paid based on their capacity nomination and load reduction achieved during events.
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Non-residential customers will get paid via check or ACH transaction within two weeks of Olivine receiving payments for events.
Disenrollment Questions
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Customers who no longer wish to be enrolled in ClimateResponse® VPP can send a written disenrollment request to ask@climateresponse.com. Prior to disenrolling check your commitment terms set forth in the Participation Agreement.