Case Study: California Dairies achieves 3.3 MW peak load reduction and $158,000 summer savings with Ameresco's Auto-DR solution

California Dairies - Customer Case Study

California Dairies, the second largest dairy cooperative in the U.S., needed a centralized, real-time view of electricity use and a way to reduce peak energy costs. To capture utility incentives and improve control over subsystems that previously only had month-end utility data, California Dairies engaged Ameresco to implement an automated demand response (Auto-DR) program in partnership with Southern California Edison.

Ameresco designed and deployed an Auto-DR solution at the Visalia and Artesia plants, leveraging the existing control network, added power metering and advanced controls, and integrated with SCE’s Demand Response Automation Server. The system enabled safe, rule-based remote load reductions, helped California Dairies reliably shed 3.3 MW (exceeding targets), secured SCE incentives to cover implementation costs, and is expected to save about $158,000 over the summer while providing real-time subsystem-level energy visibility.

California Dairies