ENERGY CONSERVATION AND DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT

DEFINITION OF ENERGY CONSERVATION

Energy conservation (EC) refers to the group of methods conceived to lower the energy consumption per capita. FIG 3 presents two daily load curves. The red one is the theoretical daily load profile while the blue one is a profile with EC used.

  • FIGURE 2: ENERGY CONSERVATION ON LOAD CURVE BASED ON [1]

    • Blue chart is lower than red one which means less energy is generated to match the load demands. This results in lower energy costs, higher reliability and lower investment costs since there is no need to construct new generators or transmission lines. EC can be implemented mainly by improving the efficiency of the generation and transmission of energy or by the systems of incentives that can encourage the people to save the energy.

    DEFINITION DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT

    Demand side management (DSM) stands for the group of measures that encourage the customers to use less energy during the peak hours (number 1 on FIG 4) or if necessary use it when the load demands are lower (number 2 on FIG 4) e.g. at nights or on weekends.

  • FIGURE 3: DEMAND SIDE MANAGEMENT ON DAILY LOARD CURVE BASED ON [1]

    • The importance of curtailing electrical peaks is due to their costs. The energy generated during the peak is a few times more expensive than off-peak energy. It is claimed that 5% reduction of peak demand during the California electricity crisis in 2000/2001 would result in electricity prices reduced by 50% [10]. It happens because peaks do not last long thus the peaking plants run short time and their maintenance costs compared to their average energy generation are high.

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