National Grid (US)

National Grid is committed to delivering safe and reliable energy to the customers and communities we serve. National Grid is one of the largest investor-owned energy companies in the US — serving more than 20 million people throughout New York and Massachusetts.
5 MW+
Capacity sought
$1.9 M
Budget

Notices

November 1, 2024
Current Opportunities
Current Opportunities

Please visit our platform for the most up-to-date list and details of current opportunities.

As of November 2024, current opportunities in New York State include:

New Krumkill Load Relief

  • Type: Non-Wires Alternative (NWA)
  • Stage: Open for participation through February 4, 2025, 5 PM ET
  • RFP documents: Refer to “New Krumkill NWA” tab
  • Need timing: 2026-2030
  • Need size: From 0.2 MW in 2026, up to 2.2 MW in 2030

Dynamic Load Management (DLM) for 2026 Vintage Year

  • Type: Term-DLM and Auto-DLM
  • Stage: To be published soon
  • RFP documents: To be published soon
  • Need timing: May 1, 2026 to September 29, 2028 (3 years for Term-DLM) or September 29, 2030 (5 years for Auto-DLM)
  • Need size: To be published soon

Steps to Participate in Opportunities

Follow the below steps to participate in National Grid’s NWA procurement process:

  1. Register - All interested providers must register an account on Piclo Flex. You do not need to have operational assets in the opportunity areas to register.
  2. ‍Company Qualification - Complete the brief questionnaire about your company. It is required for you to fill it out before the Qualification Close of individual live opportunities (‘competitions’) in order to participate. Complete once, and participate in all relevant opportunities.
  3. ‍Asset Qualification - Upload your operational and in-development assets. You do not need to have existing assets in the opportunity areas to upload their information, and we encourage you to upload all your assets so that you are notified when new opportunities open in those areas. Proposed new assets can be uploaded for individual competitions / programs.
  4. Review Opportunities - Review the map dashboard to view the latest open competitions, needs, locations, guide pricing, and technical requirements. More opportunities will become available regularly. If you are a registered user, you will receive notifications when new competitions are posted.‍
  5. Bidding - After the Qualification Close of individual live competitions, you will be able to provide pricing bids for service windows within competitions for which you have qualified.
  6. ‍Decision and Contract - National Grid will review submitted bids and make awards. There may be multiple awards per competition and service window. Awardees will then review and negotiate the contract with National Grid.

Overview

National Grid is looking to procure Non-Wires Alternatives (NWA) solutions for their New Krumkill Substation in the Albany area. 

National Grid has made significant changes to their approach for procuring NWAs, including:

  • Decreasing upfront bidder response requirements
  • Allowing ‘event-based’ grid resources to participate, including traditional demand response without real-time telemetry and connection to National Grid’s SCADA systems
  • Providing flexibility to bidding for either single or multi-year contracts, as well as for years beyond the need
  • Creating a standardized services agreement to expedite the contracting process

We encourage interested participants, including DR and DER developers, aggregators, operators, and owners, to review the RFP documents, attend the webinar on November 20 from 11 AM-12 PM ET, and register on Piclo Flex.

Participants must submit company and asset information, and submit their price bids on Piclo Flex in order for their offers to be evaluated by National Grid. If you are unable to complete the bid process using the Piclo Flex platform, please reach out to support@picloflex.com and Non-WiresAlternativeSolutions@nationalgrid.com

Materials

All RFP materials can be found below:

  • RFP
  • Webinar Recording - TBD
  • Webinar Slides - TBD

Q&A

Q&A will be posted here soon. Please submit your questions by emailing Non-WiresAlternativeSolutions@nationalgrid.com

National Grid is looking to procure resources for their DLM demand response program for territory-wide (Term-DLM) and specific areas (Auto-DLM).

Term-DLM resources will offer peak-shaving benefits to the Company’s system and will be called on upon no less than 21 hours’ advance notice.

Auto-DLM assets will be offered in specified areas within the Company’s electric service territory, and will need to provide both peak shaving benefits as well as reliability services and may be called on upon no less than 10 minutes’ notice.

We encourage interested participants, including DR and DER aggregators, operators, and owners, to review the RFP documents, attend the webinar on December 14 2023 from 9-10 AM ET, and register on Piclo Flex.

Participants must submit company and asset information, and submit their price bids on Piclo Flex in order for their offers to be evaluated by National Grid.

Please visit the press releases for more information:

DLM:

NWA:

If you have any questions or need any help, please send an email to flex-usa@piclo.energy.

We are compiling frequently asked questions and will publish them soon.

Additional Information

Business Partners - Discover information for trade partners and professionals, energy supply companies, suppliers and vendors, and about NWAs and the system data portals.

Suppliers and Vendors - Find everything from how to become a supplier to enrollment for new vendors as well as FAQs, forms, and applications for current vendors and suppliers.

Explore the links below for information specific to each of our jurisdictions.

Interactive mapping tools

Visibility into the electric grid distribution system in National Grid’s service territories:

Massachusetts System Data Portal

New York System Data Portal

State initiatives

Initiatives that engage and enable NWA solutions:

MA Bill H.1725

NY REV Connect

Explore the regulatory landscape.  

Access useful dockets and information regarding NWA activities and proposals in each state:

MA Department of Public Utilities

NY Department of Public Service

Tariff provisions

Learn about tariff provisions for each of National Grid’s service territories:

MA Tariff Provisions

NY Tariff Provisions

Analyze benefit-cost analysis

BCA information and references relevant to NWA for each state:

NY BCA Handbook

What is an NWA?

Non-Wires Alternative (NWA) is the inclusive term for any electrical grid investment that is intended to defer or remove the need to construct or upgrade components of a distribution and/or transmission system, or “wires investment”.

These NWA investments are required to be cost-effective compared to the wires investment and are required to meet the specified electrical grid need.

An NWA can include any action, strategy, program, or technology that meets this definition and these requirements.

Some technologies and methodologies that can be applicable as an NWA investment include demand response, solar, energy storage, combined heat and power (CHP), microgrid, conservation or energy efficiency measure, and other distributed energy resources (DERs) or distributed generation (DG).  NWA projects can include these and other investments individually or in combination to meet the specified need in a cost-effective manner.

NWA Solutions

To identify potential solutions, National Grid issues requests for proposals (RFPs) which are open to all NWA solution approaches. We encourage potential bidders to consider the following solution approaches when developing a proposal:

Standard solution approach: Solutions that contain a single technology in a single bid proposal.

Portfolio solution approach: Solutions that contain multiple technologies (i.e., solar and storage, targeted demand response and wind, etc.) in a holistic, integrated manner as part of a single bid proposal.

Partial solution approach: Partial solutions that provide a portion of the solution requirements may be considered where National Grid can independently identify other partners to formulate a full solution.

Partnership solution approach: A solution approach where bidders team up as appropriate to offer a multifaceted, multi-bidder solution using multiple technologies as a joint, integrated proposal set, if this would provide the best-value proposition.

The Company may combine multiple, partial Proposals to meet the full need, where a single Proposal alone does not meet the full need, or Bidders could collaborate and submit a combined Proposal, consisting of several partial solutions, that together meet the full need.

National Grid has several long-term goals in consideration, including commitments and environmental considerations stated in the National Grid Responsible Business Charter 20201, which are in alignment with state, federal, and internal drive factors, that impact the viability of any given proposal.

Proposed technologies and methodologies should have the capability to address the electrical grid need and increase grid reliability while being cost-effective in comparison to the wires investment as stated in each RFP. Proposed solutions that meet all the requirements stipulated in an RFP are preferred, by any of the solution approaches detailed above. Please note that National Grid is seeking solutions that currently exist to solve the stated need.