Utility Demand Management
One of the key issues faced by electricity utilities is the growth in daily peak demand caused by increasing customer use of electric appliances.
The electricity usage of a household or business changes throughout the day. The big swings in usage put large demands on the utilities. For example, households normally have a large peak in electricity usage in the evening when families return from work or school, prepare meals and watch TV. Combine that with extra electricity used for air-conditioning or heating (especially in unusual weather conditions), and the peak electricity demand can be several times the average demand.
For a utility, this high peak electricity demand causes two problems:
- It means that the distribution networks (poles, wires, substations and transformers) have to be constantly upgraded as consumers install more and more devices which increase this peak load; and
- The electricity generator needs to invest in additional generators that are only used during the peak demand periods.
An electricity storage system like RedFlow's Power+BOS® can solve both problems for a utility. When installed near a customer's premises, it can reduce the peak demand and by shifting the customer's load to a period of otherwise low electricity demand - coincidentally when wholesale electricity prices are lowest.
Download Demand Management Tools for Utilities.pdf
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