Management strategies to minimize the increase in electricity demand, increase grid reliability and reduce costs

Concern is growing among policymakers and utility companies amid severe weather affecting the nation’s electricity grid. In recent months, the power grid in Texas has been tested to near failure. So it seems like the perfect time for new research in the journal Management Science identified a new approach that provides the best way to use “direct load control contracts” to minimize power demand surges, increase grid reliability, and reduce electricity costs. All this right down to individual households.

“With this tool, utilities can quickly determine which customers are going to reduce their power and for how long, and limit the amount of time in a year that any customer will be off,” said Ali Fattahi of Johns Hopkins University. which goods are affected”. “Direct load control contracts only affect volunteer households (in exchange for reducing their electricity bills).”

The study ” Peak Load Energy Management by Direct Load Control Contracts ” shows that by enabling utility companies to mitigate demand increases by controlling air conditioner and other devices in residential and commercial units, could put more trust in the power grid, alleviating fear across the country.

This study provides a more efficient way to design direct load control contracts to reduce total power generation costs during peak periods.

“Let’s say you’re going to be away from home for an extended period of time, a month or two. With this program, you can work with your utility company to reduce the load your home is putting on the grid during that time. , release increased energy that can be directed to everyone above you net who is at home,” Fattahi said.

Fattahi, along with study co-authors, Sriram Dasu and Reza Ahmadi of the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, say that while utilities may rely on rotating outages or widespread outages to reduce demand peak demand, demand response mechanisms such as direct load control contracts Mean power The cuts will only affect volunteer households.

To test the model, the author uses electricity Consumption figures for three California utilities from 2009 to 2014.

“Our results show that this model can reduce utility peak demand energy costs by about 5%. And it shows that peak summer demand has fallen from 36,000 to 32,000 megawatt-hours. ,” said Dasu, a professor at the Marshall School of Business at the National Economics University. University of Southern California, Los Angeles.