Dive Brief:
- As demand management becomes an important way for organizations to lower their operating costs in energy-intensive sectors like life sciences, which operate labs and cleanrooms, two companies have launched a partnership to enable labs to participate in demand response, or DR, programs.
- An agreement between energy management company Thrive Buildings and virtual power plant company CPower is intended to leverage the two companies’ areas of expertise to help life sciences companies lower their facilities’ energy costs.
- “This partnership [is] aimed at directly helping our clients manage costs in this new energy environment,” Dan Diehl, CEO of Thrive Buildings, said in a release. “Internally, we talk about ‘connecting the dots’ and ‘maximizing the impact,’ which are significant in today’s market. With this partnership, we are …. allowing owners of critical environments to enable valuable DR capabilities confidently and safely.”
Dive Insight:
Facility operators in life science labs and hospitals, among other critical sectors, are looking for ways to reduce costs and improve their operations resilience in the face of rising energy prices and longer, more regular power interruptions as the United States deals with a strained grid, reports show.
That demand is being felt and addressed by building and energy management providers, according to recent earnings reports. For example, Johnson Controls CEO Joakim Weidemanis partially attributed its strong growth during Q1 to the life sciences sector, particularly among large-scale biologics companies looking for help managing large, complex thermal challenges.
“With the rise of biologics-based therapies, the manufacturing environments are materially different from the historical manufacturing environments,” Weidemanis said on his company’s earnings call May 6. “The indoor operating conditions that they require [need] strong thermal management — which is not just HVAC but also controls.”
AI-driven advances in drug discovery and clinical trial management are also driving the need for more ways to reduce energy consumption, Colliers says in its 2026 life sciences market outlook.
With capacity costs rising as much as 262% year-over-year in some markets, demand management becomes a first line of defense against skyrocketing operating costs, Thrive Buildings said.
“These facilities are mission-critical and must meet stringent operating requirements, but they also represent, many times, the biggest opportunity for efficiency gains and critical operating control improvements,” Diehl said in a statement. “Extending our capabilities to the supply side is now finally allowing our clients to benefit to the fullest from our efficiency programs.”
Demand response programs are ways for organizations to reduce their energy costs by changing when, and by how much, they use energy during high-cost peak periods, among other power-use management tactics.
“By drawing power when it is cheapest and least valuable to the grid and storing it for very long durations, [operators in energy-intensive sectors] cut costs and stabilize supply,” Katherine Hamilton and Isaac Brown, interim executive director and incoming executive director of the Thermal Battery Alliance, wrote in Utility Dive in December.
Under the partnership, Thrive will provide what it calls a “a turnkey, data-driven approach” that organizations can use to reduce their reliance on peak demand without impacting the safety of their operations or compliance requirements.
“By leveraging advanced controls, room-level strategies, and enabling technologies like demand control ventilation and fault detection platforms, we reshape your demand curve without disrupting operations,” the company says. “This approach helps unlock utility incentives, lower demand charges, and create long-term value.”
As a virtual power plant platform, CPower uses a network of connected energy assets like microgrids and energy storage facilities to provide an alternative to grid power that organizations can tap into at different periods. This network, the company says on its website, enables participants to respond to “changing grid dynamics and [generate] revenue and savings … whenever their flexibility is called upon.”
“CPower looks forward to working with Thrive Buildings to help customers generate revenue and reduce costs while maintaining operations and compliance by participating in demand response and energy flexibility programs,” Jay Snyder, senior manager of technology alliances at CPower, said in a statement.
