On the Acceptability of Electricity Demand Side Management by Time of Day

Abstract

Advances in the introduction of fluctuating renewable energies, such as photovoltaics (PV), have caused power-system destabilization. However, stability can be improved if consumers change the way they use power, moving to time slots when the PV output in an area is high. In large cities in developed countries, where the types of distributed energy resources are varied, demand side management (DSM) in which consumers share power supplies and adjust the demand has received considerable attention. Under effective DSM that uses the latest information and communication technology to maximize the use of renewable energy, we believe that sparing use of appliances is not the only solution to address global warming. If behavioral change shifts the use of domestic appliances from one time slot to other time slots, we do not have to abandon the use of these appliances. The aim of this study is to determine the possibility of such behavioral changes in people in order to provide basic information for operating an effective DSM. To that end, we conducted a questionnaire-based survey of 10,000 households in Japan. We investigated the proportion of people responding to a request for a demand response (DR) under the given presented reward in time slots when DSM by DR is required. We also analyzed the factors influencing people’s response to a request for a DR. Furthermore, based on the rewards likely to be achieved in the adjustable power market, we estimated how much adjustable power would be realized.

Impact of the Lockdown during the COVID-19 Pandemic on Electricity Use by Residential Users

“…The research and considerations of DSR in the household sector have appeared since the end of the 20th century, e.g., [49]. We can consider two types of DSRs: when it reduces (suppresses) power demand (down DSR), and when it increases (creates) demand for electricity (up DSR) [50]. DSR should be considered as a programme dedicated to users to influence the way they use energy and shape their daily consumption profile from the point of view of the supplier (network operator)) [51].…”

“…According to a survey conducted by Japanese researchers [56], among households is a huge interest in DSR participation-only 28% of households showed a negative attitude toward participation in DSR programs. The results of another survey conducted among 10,000 households in Japan responding to a request for a DSR are presented in [50]. The study from [57] shows a Swedish case, in which a relatively small economic compensation for DSR participation is required for households in apartments, whereas households in detached houses require higher benefits.…”

Factors Determining the Development of Prosumer Photovoltaic Installations in Poland

“…Factors increasing the profitability of investing in a PV installation for prosumers include a higher level of energy self-consumption [10,24,30,41,[57][58][59], or adjusting the installation size to the level of consumption [39,49,60,61]. It means that residential PV should mainly provide enough energy for a given household, unless there is an energy shortage in a given region or the household participates in energy community.…”

“…Subsequent actions to support the development of RES, including PV, should concern the development of demand-side management systems, which will enable better energy management [57], but also the creation of energy communities in which the production and consumption of energy will be jointly planned [62][63][64]. Additionally, the development of smart grids is necessary as they allow better management of surplus energy, including in isolated systems (e.g., in islands, separated rural areas, and countries without a welldeveloped energy network) [48,[65][66][67][68][69].…”

“…The electricity production from PV systems may face numerous limitations as they develop. From the point of view of energy distributors, excess production in the summer and on sunny days may disrupt the operation of transmission systems, e.g., overloading of existing transmission lines and demand and supply mismatch [10,48,57], but it may also destabilize the entire energy production system in which stable energy sources must still operate [42,57,65]. The development of smart grids, and forecasting of PV energy production based on the weather forecast, can be a partial solution to such problems [48,64,75].…”