As 2011 comes to a close and thoughts turn to family, presents, energy-smart food and decorations, and, let’s hope, some down time, we’re actually ramping up for something huge—and tremendously exciting—here at Comverge.

Don’t get me wrong: we’re all about the spirit of the season here! We just thought it would be best to go out with a bang, which is why I’m thrilled to announce our newly cemented partnership with Eskom, Africa’s largest electricity provider.

Comverge beat out some strong competition to work with Eskom as creator and co-manager of Africa’s first open market for demand response resources. Under the $27 million agreement, we’ll deploy our IntelliSOURCE 2.0 platform for Eskom, enabling the utility to register, dispatch, and manage a newly established demand response market, centered in South Africa. Under this initial 16-month pilot agreement, Comverge will aggregate 500 MWs of load under the IntelliSOURCE system. Beyond our role as aggregator, we will also bring at least 100 MWs of demand response services to the market, serving as the curtailment service provider for this portion of the total MWs allocated to the program.  

I feel honored to kick-off this international partnership. We have committed to expanding our international presence, as we strongly believe that investment in IT-based demand response solutions offers the best answer to the complex energy supply and demand challenges countries across the globe face today. With Eskom, we now have the opportunity to put our expertise into action, to streamline the efforts of the South African region’s C&I load providers, and to conduct the research-based studies necessary to assess how best to use demand response resources going forward.

I’m excited to get the ball rolling and to use our intelligent energy platform to build this new demand response market in South Africa. The ability to scale IntelliSOURCE across multiple customer classes – including South Africa’s mining, commercial, and agricultural industries – offers Eskom the flexibility to adjust to changing and expanding demand response needs as the project progresses. It’s a model I think we can replicate in other geographies, from Asia to Europe and beyond.

But more on that in 2012.

All the best for a happy, healthy new year!