Rachel Permut Of Enersponse On How They Are Breaking the Cycle of Non-Renewable Consumption

An Interview With Monica Sanders

Collaboration is key. Creating a sustainable future is no easy feat and one that will require many experts across the energy value chain to find common ground to pool resources, work together and find the most viable, long-term solutions.

Although the United States has had a long trend of non-renewable consumption, the tides are turning. In this interview series, we are talking to business leaders and executives about the steps their organization is taking toward renewable consumption. As part of this series, we had the pleasure of interviewing Rachel Permut.

Rachel Permut serves as Enersponse’s Chief Strategy Officer and brings with her more than 20 years of experience in business strategy, M&A and product development. Prior to joining Enersponse, she developed new customer offerings in Microgrids and eMobility infrastructure for ENGIE North America and led channel sales for ENGIE Storage. Before ENGIE, Rachel worked at Duke Energy across the company’s regulated and commercial businesses.

Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit. Please tell us a bit about yourself and your role in the company.

I was lucky enough to find myself in the energy sector early on in my career and haven’t left since. I’m very passionate about the demand side of the electricity equation and finding innovative ways to promote sustainability and decarbonization in our industry. Currently, I’m the Chief Strategy Officer at Enersponse and also lead our partnerships efforts.

None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?

So many people helped shape my journey: my parents, teachers, professors, colleagues, mentors — the list goes on and on. However, one vivid memory comes to mind and made a lasting impact on my career aspirations. During an environmental school trip to the Big Island of Hawaii during my sophomore year of college, we went on a hike to Waipio Valley and saw a Jeep making big donuts in the sand below us. I recall marveling at the natural beauty that surrounded us, but as I looked at those tire marks, it became clear that not everyone had the same appreciation for our planet as my fellow classmates and I did. I felt both frustrated and defeated at this realization.

On the flight home, I was seated next to one of my teachers, Professor Ray Arvidson, chatting about the trip and I remember having a sort of aha moment during our discussion: that while not everyone might enjoy nature the way I did, aligning financial incentives could be the “cheat code” in forming a connection between people and the environment. While that may not convince everyone, it has been helpful in driving impact throughout my professional life.

What is the mission of Enersponse? What problems are you aiming to solve? What is your “why”?

At Enersponse, our core mission is to make energy conservation programs more accessible by offering intelligently automated Distributed Energy Resources (DER) programs that provide flexibility, convenience and risk-free opportunities for energy consumers to reduce electricity cost/usage and support grid sustainability and decarbonization. Another important goal our company has is in supporting the new power grid through demand flexibility as more intermittent renewable energy assets join the network.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you during your time with Enersponse?

An interesting story about a customer comes to mind here as it was a key driver in the development of one of our product innovations.

As we probably all remember, in February of 2021, Texas was hit by the devastating winter storm Uri, which brought record low temperatures throughout the entire state. Our now-client had 80 commercial properties in that region, and like so many, was not prepared for the unexpected and severe weather conditions that hit that season. The extreme drop in temperature and immense power grid demand caused real-time electricity prices to surge, leaving the company to deal with the real-time cost of $9,000/MWh for 80+ consecutive hours of electricity compared to its typical annual average of $20 — $40/MWh. During that time, the company’s energy bill was over 16 times more in February 2021 than what they had budgeted for — a total nightmare.

While this firm had considered participating in a demand response program for years prior, which would have significantly reduced that astronomical February utility bill, the options they were presented had strict and aggressive participation requirements, like reducing energy consumption for hours on end or temporarily decreasing energy use with only 30-minutes prior notice. Therefore, participating in any of the antiquated and limited energy programs they’d been introduced to was simply not feasible. However, the financial aftermath from winter storm Uri gave the company an aha moment of their own and they quickly reconsidered.

In the summer of 2021, the company made the strategic decision to implement Enersponse’s energy management system at its headquarters along with a new offering we had just introduced called Price ResponseTM, a tool developed specifically for our customers to mitigate precisely what happened to the company earlier that year. Price Response is an innovative avoidance feature that automatically helps customers avert high energy prices when power demand fluctuates. The firm integrated Price Response triggers so that when the real-time price of electricity exceeded their preferences, an automatic curtailment event was immediately initiated to reduce loads by 40% at their headquarter facility without impacting the day-to-day operations or occupants comfort levels.

The results were so significant that the firm applied Price Response across its entire Texas portfolio, anticipating an annual electricity cost savings potential of over $600K or 3–5%, which only required less than 40 hours or a 1% of load reduction at their facilities per year. Upon realizing how convenient and cost-effective these power reduction solutions were, the company enrolled in additional programs and fully deployed Enersponse’s energy management system, which provided even more savings and also opened up new revenue streams.

This customer story, among others, reminds me of how rewarding it is to be a part of an innovative company like Enersponse, that can create such significant financial savings opportunities for our clients, while also being able to support sustainability and decarbonization for the environment.

Do you have a favorite life lesson quote? Can you tell us how that was relevant to you in your own life?

“You take yourself with you.” I’ve moved around quite a bit, 10 states over the course of my life to be exact. My mother often uses this phrase as a reminder that the grass isn’t always greener elsewhere. Whether moving to an unfamiliar city or taking an exciting new job opportunity, you will still be you, regardless of the place or situation you find yourself in. If you want real self-change, you have to be willing to put in the work because while circumstances may change, if you don’t adapt your mindset or actions, you’ll likely experience the same results over and over.

Can you tell our readers about the initiatives that you or your company are taking to help break the cycle of non-renewable consumption? What specific problems related to non-renewable consumption are you aiming to solve?”

We have a few different solutions that help to reduce the use of non-renewable energy production. Specifically, Enersponse’s Demand Response Program reduces load so that a cleaner energy mix can meet power grid demand rather than increase the supply — which is often natural gas or oil generation. Our Clean ResponseTM avoidance tool takes this one step further to automatically dispatch whenever the grid reaches a certain carbon emissions threshold, even if supply availability is not at risk.

With enough load or distributed energy resources in these demand flexibility programs, our innovative power management solutions have the ability to prevent non-renewable energy production and even better, alleviate the need for new natural gas and oil generation plants to be built.

How do you measure the impact of your company’s sustainability initiatives, both in terms of environmental benefits and business growth? Can you share any key metrics or success stories?

We track the Scope 2 emissions for all of our customers’ energy impact as a result of participating in Demand Response and Clean Response. It’s intentional that Enersponse’s business model, sales and revenue growth strategies all directly reduce emissions. Our primary metrics include CO2 emissions avoided and the number of sites deploying DR programs, megawatts (MW) of connected loads and MW enrolled. I can proudly say that to date, Enersponse has collectively saved the 19,406 sites and 2.89 Gigawatts (GW) of connected loads under our management a staggering 5,752 Megawatt-hours (MWh) of energy and prevented over 3,419,775 lbs. of CO2 from being released into the atmosphere!

What challenges have you faced while implementing sustainable practices in your company, and how did you overcome them? Can you share a specific example?

As a remote-first business, Enersponse is very sustainable. So, we instead focus on how to create additional opportunities for our clients to be environmentally conscious by developing product innovations, like Clean Response. We also achieve this through partnering with likeminded organizations so we can cast a wider net by merging our unique solutions and technology offerings to drive stronger and more sustainable outcomes on a larger scale to reach even more customers.

How can other businesses become more profitable by incorporating sustainable and environmentally conscious practices in their organizational model? Can you share a story or example?

If businesses want to be more sustainable, looking inward at their organizational energy management strategy and power usage is a great place to start. Once an organizational assessment of the energy being used at your company is conducted, businesses can make quick adjustments that yield fast results. And while every business has unique operational needs that must be considered, even small and simple adjustments create impact. Whether it’s swapping out incandescent light bulbs for LEDs, tuning up an HVAC system to ensure energy efficiency or enrolling in a demand response program, organizations will see a quick ROI and improved environmental performance.

This is the signature question we ask in most of our interviews. What are your “5 things I wish someone told me when I first started promoting sustainability and climate justice” and why?

• Understand your customer/stakeholder’s needs. Projects will move much more rapidly if you can solve a current problem your customer is facing. This is true for sales across the board, but equally for promoting sustainability and climate justice.
• There is no energy transition without a just transition. There has been a common theme of leaving disadvantaged communities behind during an energy transition and we simply can’t allow that to happen this time around. Everyone — regardless of their geographic location or circumstances — must be brought along, especially those who’ve been severely impacted with limited or no access to energy.
• Not everyone has to be a believer to participate. Whether or not a business is solely focused on a solution due to its sustainable qualities, providing value-added products or services will reel them in and the environmental benefits those offerings create will soon be realized.
• Establishing sustainability and climate justice takes patience and perseverance. Our shared goal of a net zero future is a marathon, not a sprint — it will take a great deal of time and resources to achieve. Hearing news of frequent natural disasters, massive oils spills or species decline can be very negative, so it’s important to take care of your mental health and also follow information or news that’s focused on the solutions and the positive progression being made.
• Collaboration is key. Creating a sustainable future is no easy feat and one that will require many experts across the energy value chain to find common ground to pool resources, work together and find the most viable, long-term solutions.

If you could inspire a movement that would bring the greatest amount of good to the greatest number of people, what would that be?

It would be for the continued growth and advancement of distributed energy resources as it can play a large role in helping communities in developing countries without access to grid infrastructure while also striking a better balance in the cost of grid energy across established economies. More access to energy is foundational — having more distributed power sources means clean water, healthcare, education and more for those who currently don’t have such luxuries.

What is the best way for our readers to continue to follow your work online?

You can visit enersponse.com to learn more about our work or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter.

This was very meaningful, thank you so much. We wish you only continued success on your great work!

About the Interviewer: Monica Sanders JD, LL.M, is the founder of “The Undivide Project”, an organization dedicated to creating climate resilience in underserved communities using good tech and the power of the Internet. She holds faculty roles at the Georgetown University Law Center and the Tulane University Disaster Resilience Leadership Academy. Professor Sanders also serves on several UN agency working groups. As an attorney, Monica has held senior roles in all three branches of government, private industry, and nonprofits. In her previous life, she was a journalist for seven years and the recipient of several awards, including an Emmy. Now the New Orleans native spends her time in solidarity with and championing change for those on the frontlines of climate change and digital divestment. Learn more about how to join her at: www.theundivideproject.org.