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Renewable generation versus demand-side management. A comparison for the Spanish market
Abstract
Conventionally the required instantaneous balance generation-load is achieved by adjusting production to fit variable consumer demand. Nowadays, a significant and increasing segment of generation is renewable. But renewable production cannot be scheduled on request since its generation is dependent on nature (wind, sun, …). In this context, demand-side management (DSM) would help since it would be advisable for part of the flexibility to be provided by the demand.
The integration of renewable production and demand-side management (DSM), are compared in this work for Spain throughout 2008–2014. First a qualitative model, based on the linearization of the wholesale market, is employed to explore some hypotheses. A set of scenarios are then examined to quantify the main effects on the market.
The results show that DSM exhibits the best performance in terms of economic efficiency and environmental sustainability, as well as for the reduction of load peaks and losses in the system, what suggests the convenience of promoting plans for the replacement of equipment with other more efficient as well as the implementation of real-time tariffs.
... In the European context, there are a number of examples how the bid and offer curve data published by the DA market operators can be utilized in a static simulation framework to estimate the producer and consumer welfare impacts brought by various changes in the market situation. For example, a historical curve modification approach implicitly assuming no free entry has been used with Spanish DA market aggregated bid and offer curves to estimate the potential welfare and price impact of increased PV integration [22,23], wholesale price reductions achievable through energy efficiency and load shifting measures [24], and to compare the merit order effect obtainable by renewable generation versus demand-side management [25]. In Ref. [26], a similar approach has also been used the other way around, by removing renewable energy from the supply curve (instead of adding it) to estimate the value brought by renewables and contrasting it to the incentive payments they have received. ...
... 1) A static simulation methodology to assess the welfare impacts of socializing IA-supplier compensation and the resulting net benefits which extends the existing literature [18] using tools previously applied in other contexts [22][23][24][25][26]. 2) Analysis of the potential net benefits of integrating IAs in the Nordic DA market with varied degrees of compensation socialization. ...
... However, the high churn rate in the DA market allows us to justify the usage of historical aggregated bid and offer curves as a necessary approximation due to the lack of more precise information. Important in this regard is that the Nordic market has an even higher churn rate than the Iberian market (around 80 %) whose aggregated bid and offer curves have been used in previous studies [22][23][24][25][26]. ...
This paper addresses the participation of independent aggregators (IAs) for demand response (DR) in European electricity markets. An IA is an aggregator trading the flexibility of consumers of which it is not the electricity supplier. Particularly, we focus on the controversial issue of a compensation payment from the IA to the supplier for energy sourcing. Concretely, we explore the potential welfare impacts of partial or full socialization of the compensation payment. For this, a static simulation framework is introduced utilizing historical day-ahead market bid and offer data from the Nordic region to rerun market clearing under different scenarios of compensation rules and with diverse assumptions regarding the DR aggregated by IAs. The overall welfare impacts comprise of changes in producer and consumer surplus, DR consumer welfare impact and the socialized part of the compensation. Based on a case study utilizing data for the full year of 2018, it is found that subsidizing the participation of IAs in the day-ahead market leads to negative overall welfare impacts due to over-incentivization of demand reduction. However, in nearly all investigated cases the socialization of the compensation payment leads to positive impacts on the consumer surplus, driven by reduced electricity wholesale prices. The optimal share of the socialization of the compensation that leads to the highest net consumer benefit depends on many factors, among which the assumptions around activation costs of DR are the most evident. Nevertheless, we argue that the socialization of the supplier compensation should be at least conditional upon the level of the hourly wholesale price (i.e., a “threshold price”) and on DR cost estimates. Only in the case when high shares of untapped DR are relatively cheap, net welfare benefits will result.
... The integration of renewables creates economic benefits for consumers when they participate in the day-ahead electricity market. This effect, described in [28][29][30][31], is known as the merit-order effect, and it constitutes a decrease in energy prices when renewables offer their energy at a very low price in a day-ahead electricity market. This work seeks to estimate the impact that offshore energy would have on the day-ahead Iberian electricity market. ...
... To model the operation of the day-ahead electricity market, using such broad scenarios as those considered in this work (one whole year), the existing literature has used different approaches, such as the linearization of the market around the clearing point [29,36,37]. Research based on a market model, using the detailed composition of the generation and demand curves, can be found in [30,[38][39][40]. The latter methodology has been adopted in this work, which requires very detailed information of the composition of generation and demand curves. ...
... different approaches, such as the linearization of the market around the clearing point [29,36,37]. Research based on a market model, using the detailed composition of the generation and demand curves, can be found in [30,[38][39][40]. The latter methodology has been adopted in this work, which requires very detailed information of the composition of generation and demand curves. ...
The European Union considers that offshore wind power will play a key role in making the EU the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. Currently, the potential of offshore wind energy is still untapped in Spain. Furthermore, the characteristics of the coastline in Spain require floating technology, making it challenging to install wind farms due to their current high cost. This work seeks to quantify the impact that Spanish offshore wind energy would have on the Iberian electricity market. Several offshore wind scenarios are evaluated by combining available information in relation to areas suitable for installing wind farms and wind resource data. The impact on the day-ahead electricity market has been obtained by reproducing the market, including these new offshore wind generation scenarios. The introduction of this renewable energy results in a market cost reduction in what is known as the merit-order effect. According to our estimates, for each MWh of offshore wind energy introduced in the market, there would be a market cost reduction of 45 €. These savings can serve as a reference for regulators to adjust their policy framework to boost floating wind offshore generation.
... Utilities are minded promoting DSM and energy saving. Emerging trends favour DSM initiatives as an alternative to constructing additional supply capacity due to economic and environmental constraints associated with the latter [6,7]. DSM can help reduce congestion on the grid network by curtailing the demand or by shifting the load to other periods with grid capacity surplus [7][8][9]. ...
... Emerging trends favour DSM initiatives as an alternative to constructing additional supply capacity due to economic and environmental constraints associated with the latter [6,7]. DSM can help reduce congestion on the grid network by curtailing the demand or by shifting the load to other periods with grid capacity surplus [7][8][9]. One essential value of DSM is its ability to allow increased penetration of renewable energies and reducing the need for spinning-reserve supplied by power plants that use fossil fuels [10]. ...
... The scenarios developed in this study are intended to explore the likely developments in plan [259]. The utility company uses a log-log linear regression model based on historical annual GDP as the only independent variable and historical annual electricity consumption in GWh as 7 All simulations performed on a desktop with an AMD 3900X 24 thread CPU @ 3.80GHz and 128GB of RAM. ...
The distribution of sustainable, reliable and affordable electricity is an anchorage
for socio-economic development in every modern society. Unfortunately, for many
developing countries, this is still a myth largely due to electricity supply constraints.
Despite these challenges, demand side management initiatives which are a low hanging
fruit are often unexplored especially in the residential sector which contributes
significantly to average and peak demands. This is often attributed to insufficient
household electricity consumption data, lack of end user behaviour information and the
dearth of detailed technical and economic assessment to ascertain its potential for proper policy design and implementation.
The work presented in this thesis uses mixed method approaches to assess the
opportunities and potential of demand side management measures in the residential sector and further evaluates its impact on electricity generation capacity planning. Ghana is used for a case study because of its political commitment and efforts in implementing solutions to address the electricity access issues. An analysis done for Ghana can provide a positive learning curve for other developing countries. The summary results indicate that appliance energy efficient programmes could reduce electricity consumption by 25-51% while demand response could reduce the average daily peak load by 2-14%. These interventions could minimise the cost of providing new generation capacity by 10-45%. The outcome further shows that demand side management measures could
successfully attain economic and environmental benefits beyond energy savings itself.
Indeed, to actualize energy and cost savings, utility providers and consumers need to
cooperate effectively on information delivery and feedbacks while efforts should be made
to incentivize consumers to balance the benefits between them. To sustainably recoup
these benefits, effective policies that are currently non-existent on the concept of rebound
effect should be developed concurrently with demand side management policies to avoid
possible system peak hikes.
... Finally, the integration of renewable production and demand-side management, are compared in [14] for the case of Spain for the period 2008-2014. The results of that work showed that demand-side management can be favourable compared with renewables in terms of cost of the energy traded in the market and environmental sustainability. ...
... Consumers that apply for load-shifting programs expect to save in their electricity energy bills, due to the difference between the energy price at peak and off-peak hours [5], [7]- [10], [13], [14]. Nevertheless, when an important number of consumers shift an amount of energy from a peak hour to an off-peak hour, there is a resulting decrease in the price of the peak hour and an increase in the price of the off-peak hour, as can be observed in Fig. 2. ...
... This work aims to quantify and compare the main effects on the Spanish/Iberian market. Thus, for each new scenario analysed, new hourly curves of generation and demand are developed, in a three-step sequence [13], [14]: ...
Renewable producers can offer selling bids with very low marginal cost since they are not obliged to include on any cost related to the use of energy from the wind or sun. Accordingly, when the Market Operator integrates a renewable bid in the merit-order generation curve, all the generators based on conventional technologies, with higher marginal cost due to the cost of fuels, are displaced to the right. The right-shifting of the merit-order generation curve leads to a lower clearing price, a small increment of the traded energy (almost inelastic demand curve), and a reduction of the total cost of the energy traded in the wholesale market. This is the key mechanism of the well-known merit-order effect of renewables. Load-shifting (demand-side management) plans are expected to yield a reduction of the cost of the traded energy for the customers, since the cost-saving due to the energy eschewed at peak hours would be greater than the extra cost due to the increased demand at off-peak hours. This work will show that the main effects of load-shifting on the market are qualitatively similar to that of renewables, which exemplify the existence a “merit-order effect of load-shifting”. To analyse the characteristics of the merit-order effect of load-shifting, a simplified model has been developed, based on the displacement of the generation and demand curves. A set of scenarios has been generated in order to quantify the main effects on the Spanish/Iberian market for 2015.
... Power intermittency, inherent in generating electricity from Renewable Energy Sources (RES) -wind and solar in particular -has become one of the central problems in the transition to renewable energy [1]. 1 It stems from the nature of power grids -at all times supply must equal demand in order to balance frequencies, where storing electricity cannot be done yet economically at the desired scale [2]. 2 This problem is expected to be prevalent in future power systems which will be characterized by a diverse, decentralized and dispersed portfolio of power generators, with a high share of RES [3]. ...
... Limiting the ability to exercise market power-demand can be lowered instantly using the available ACDL, which weakens the ability of power generators to artificially raise prices and increase profits. 3,4 Protection mechanism for unexpected severe power shortages -when all measures (other than load shedding) have been exhausted, the available ACDL can be used. Subsequently, if needed, more drastic measures can be taken by activating a partial disconnection mechanism based on prioritizing service levels. ...
... For this implementation, the appliances need to be Wi-Fi enabled and support remote control of appliance functions. The advanced implementation is based on using smart appliances which support, if relevant for the appliance type, interruptions not only before the cycle starts but also during the cycle (depending on the stage and status) as well as switching temporarily, upon request, to a lower 3 When attempts are made to exercise market power, even a small decrease in power demand may lead to a considerable reduction in price [36]. 4 This is relevant for the Israeli power sector, which is in the process of transforming from a regulated monopoly to a system with a central grid operator and distributed power generators. ...
This paper presents and evaluates a novel demand response method for households, designed for mitigating intermittency in smart grids with a high share of renewables. The method, named Dynamic-Active Demand Response (DADR), is based on an innovative paradigm of offering multiple electricity service levels and a dynamic-active demand response scheme. It provides the grid operator with the ability to influence consumption patterns in real time, so that responding to renewables intermittency is more effective in terms of reliability, predictability and response time. DADR's performance is evaluated using a Monte Carlo simulation model, which assesses the method's intermittency mitigation potential and estimates the expected economic value of implementing it in the Israeli residential sector. Major components of the model are based on a survey, conducted among Israeli households. The survey results indicate that, given a sufficiently attractive economic incentive, participation rates can reach as high as 85e90%. The Monte Carlo simulation results reveal that DADR can make a significant contribution to mitigating renewables intermittency, with energy savings of hundreds to thousands of MWh a day and a positive net economic benefit.
... However, their integration poses various challenges that restrict their use globally. One of the most attractive solutions to face these challenges is demand-side management (DSM) or demand response management [1], [2]. These solutions aim to encourage consumers to adjust their load according to the production curve, generally by setting an adequate daily electricity pricing [3], [4]. ...
... A price elasticity of −0.1 means that for a 1% increase in price, demand decreases by only 10%. 1 price elasticity is the ratio of the percentage change in demand to the percentage change in price [13]. If d is the demand, p the price and the price elasticity, then : ∂d d / ∂p p = . ...
... High energy demand during peak hours Systematic literature review [35,[46][47][48] Peak energy hours Systematic literature review [8,46,49] Adequacy to the billing measurement system (SMF) Gray literature [39,50] Customer Insight Gray literature [51] Financial Initial Investment Systematic literature review [48,52] Contractual and financial customization Gray literature [51] Rate change in ACR Gray literature [51,53] External Environment ...
... Considering this factor, many companies in this contracting environment that have a high energy demand during peak hours, carry out the so-called energy exchange, managing their production so that the load used is the lowest possible during these times. With this, it is possible to obtain savings in energy bills, since at peak times the prices paid for consumption are higher [35,[46][47][48]. Many consumers, however, although they perform this management, are unable to obtain significant gains, being viable and advantageous the migration to free contract environments, where the purchase of energy is made through contracts and the price paid for the amount does not vary, being possible the constant use of energy at peak times [8,46,49]. ...
Due to the constant evolution of the electricity markets around the world, new possibilities for contracting electricity are emerging. In Brazil, there are two models available to the consumer: the regulated contracting environment and the free contracting environment. Because of these possibilities for contracting electricity, it is important that consumers know how to migrate from the regulated to the free environment when it is an advantage. This study was conducted following the premises of three techniques: systematic literature review, gray literature review, and expert panel. The following question was asked: What are the determining factors to be considered by the consumer at the moment decision to migrate from the regulated electricity market to the free market? In total, 7 factors were identified and discussed in the literature review. The experts who participated in the study pointed out 3 influential scenarios in this decision making to migrate. The main contribution of this study is to provide the consumer with subsidies for decision making, given the determining factors to be taken into account when deciding on migration or not. In addition, the study contributed to the sector through a comprehensive discussion about the scenarios faced by consumers and how they can influence decision making.
... The load management through DR (Demand Response) is widely studied and used in several countries [5], [6], and is an important ally regarding the correct expansion of electrical grid, as well as helping to increase the reliability and security of energy supply of these countries. ...
... The total verified saving is given by (5). ...
... The work qualitatively identifies the following main criticisms and objections to the NCRER: The affectation of the NCRER premium on the purchasing power of users, since users must cover the premium with charges in electricity transmission rates; the lack of reliability and variability of the NCRER plants and the slowdown in economic growth in Peru, associated with the delay in the start of mining projects. Burgos-Payan et al. (2013), Roldán Fernández Juan Manuel et al. (2016) and Roldan-Fernandez et al. (2021) analyzed the impact of renewables on the daily electricity market in Spain. The first study evaluates the influence of renewables on the daily electricity market and concludes that the price reduction offsets the subsidies these technologies receive. ...
... To evaluate the market electricity prices under this new scenario with a total or a partial elimination of nuclear energy generation, it is necessary to use a market model. The existing literature shows various approach to replicate the electricity market, among which are agentbase modelling, optimization algorithms, artificial intelligence techniques or metaheuristic merit-order methods [2,3]. Our approach is based on the latter methods, by using actual generation and demand data, the new market generation and demand curves are reconstructed, and the new clearing price is obtained. ...
Portugal and Spain are integrated into what is known as the Iberian Electricity Market. Spain participates in this market with a significant contribution of energy produced by nuclear plants. In 2022, nuclear energy accounted for 22 % of the total energy generated in Spain. Nuclear power plants sell their energy largely through bilateral contracts and approximately 20 % is offered in the day-ahead electricity market. By 2035, Spain will phase-out nuclear power producing a structural change of its generation mix [1]. In this paper, we investigate the effect on the day-ahead Iberian electricity market that the gradual removal of nuclear power plants will have on the daily electricity market. The methodology is based on a ceteris paribus approach, where generation conditions are modified by removing nuclear plants and keeping the rest of the variables constant (demand and other generation). Under these conditions, the market is reproduced, estimating how electricity prices change in the day-ahead electricity market. To evaluate the market electricity prices under this new scenario with a total or a partial elimination of nuclear energy generation, it is necessary to use a market model. The existing literature shows various approach to replicate the electricity market, among which are agent-base modelling, optimization algorithms, artificial intelligence techniques or metaheuristic merit-order methods [2, 3]. Our approach is based on the latter methods, by using actual generation and demand data, the new market generation and demand curves are reconstructed, and the new clearing price is obtained. For the most conservative scenario, the results show a price increase of more than 5% for the first 6 months of 2021. The reason for this increase is that nuclear generation participates in the market by offering its energy at prices close to zero. When this generation is withdrawn, there is a shift to the left of the hourly generation curve producing a new market equilibrium at a point of higher price and lower energy.
... Tanto em países desenvolvidos como países em desenvolvimento, o aumento da capacidade de geração de energia tem propiciado novos desafios, gerando um ambiente favorável para a inserção de mudanças na maneira de se utilizar a energia elétrica [Fernández et al., 2016;Zhanga, 2017]. Novas regras de tarifação do consumo e incentivo de geração local de energia iniciaram tais mudanças [Kernan et al., 2017;Zhongfu, 2011], as quais se baseiam em um conceito mundialmente discutido nos últimos anos, o conceito Smart Grid [Higgins et al., 2011;Zaballos et al., 2011;Crispim et al., 2014;Jenkins et al., 2015]. ...
... From Figure 1, we can see that the top three clean renewable energy consumption in 2020 are Shandong Province, Guangdong Province, and Hebei Province respectively. The highest consumption of clean renewable energy is over 40,000 million tons [31] in Shandong province, while the lowest consumption is only about 20 million tons of standard coal in Hainan, so we can easily see through the above chart that there are big differences in the consumption data of clean renewable energy in different regions at the same point of time. ...
Global economic growth is now increasingly conflicting with the sustainable development strategy. In the context of ecological environmental preservation and air pollution prevention and control, this paper probes into the regional differentiation in the influencing factors of clean renewable energy consumption. First and foremost, a brief analysis of the status quo of clean renewable consumption in China was outputted, grounded on data on the input and output of 30 provinces and cities nationwide from 2010 to 2020. Then, national and regional models are built respectively in virtue of differential GMM, systematic GMM, and bias-corrected LSDV methods. Furthermore, efforts were invested in dissecting the working mechanism of the influencing factors and verifying the previous prediction resulting in applying the Tobit regression method. For every 1% increase in the green finance index, the clean renewable energy consumption rises by 0.882 accordingly, said the regression analysis results. Last but not least, it was concluded that the development level of green finance, internet advance, and technological progress significantly positively affected clean renewable energy consumption. While the industrial structure, the degree of openness, and the level of urbanization represented by the proportion of the secondary industry play hardly-seen impact.
... developments and the growing difficulty of fossil fuel exploitation have made renewable energy cheaper and more affordable (Bazilian et al., 2013;Kalair et al., 2021). As Fernandez et al. (2016) shown for Spain, the more persistent the integration of renewables into the energy mix, the lower the power price since cheaper renewables would replace more expensive traditional producers. ...
... The intelligent use of electric power has been one of the highlights in the current research, due to the increasing cost of the tariff and the great impact caused to the environment, both associated with the use of nonrenewable sources (Mathias et al., 2015;Fernández et al., 2016;Zhanga et al., 2017). New policies for changes in the behavior of electric-ity consumers, associated with an increasing feasibility of the implementation of micro-generation systems (Kernan et al., 2017;Zhongfu, 2011;Qerimi et al., 2020) and automation technologies in electrical installations, have led to the use of the smart grid concept (Zaballos et al., 2011;Jha et al., 2021;Shahzad et al., 2020), which has been discussed worldwide in recent years (Zoha et al., 2012;Abubakar et al., 2017;Angelis et al., 2022). ...
The identification of electrical/electronic loads is one of the Smart Grids (SGs) relevant problems. An accuracy of 100 can be achieved in SGs with non-similar loads. However, to the best of the authors knowledge, this level of accuracy was not described in the literature, considering SGs with similar loads. Therefore, the development of an intelligent classification system of similar electrical/electronic loads is described in this paper, aiming at the achievement of 100% accuracy with minimum parameters of the neural classifiers. An experimental platform containing an arrangement with four high similar loads was implemented. In such arrangement, all possible combinations are realized, that is, from all loads turned on until all turned off, resulting in non-similar and very similar loads, as found in real scenarios. The electrical signals demanded by the connected load arrangements are acquired and submitted to two different neural networks. The first neural network is an Extreme Learning Machine (ELM) classifier, where a Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) technique is applied to select the best ELM model, whereas the second network is a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN) classifier. The ELM-PSO system is based on pre-processed data because it uses information based on the spectrum amplitude of the demand signals (features), whereas the CNN system is based on the use of the raw data, thus requiring a greater processing capacity when compared to the ELM-PSO. The simulation results show that the proposed CNN based system provides success rates considerably higher than the proposed ELM-PSO system, i.e., of accuracy with 381, 512 network parameters against with 14, 989 parameters of the ELM-PSO-based system.
... These actions can change the time pattern and magnitude of the network load, thereby resulting in the desired load shapes [5]. Demand response has the potential to induce cost savings, blackout prevention or responsibility sensing [6][7][8]. A lot of studies in the extant literature have focused on price-based demand response with emphasis on behavior change induced by dynamic electricity pricing. ...
Peak demand on electricity grids is a growing problem that increases costs and risks to supply security. Residential sector loads often contribute significantly to seasonal and daily peak demand. Demand response refers to consumer actions that change the utility load profile in a way that reduces costs or improves grid security by applying price signals and automated load shedding technologies. The methodologies that are used to achieve demand response can hardly be applicable in developing countries. Peak pricing of electricity, for instance, can hardly be implemented in many developing countries as high prices would disproportionately affect the many low-income households who do not have the capacity to take action to avoid paying high peak prices. This study aims to develop demand response methodology that can be applied in developing countries to achieve residential peak demand reduction. We use a consumer preference survey to develop a methodology suitable for developing countries. The method of diversified demand is used with energy audit and monitored data to estimate the potential peak load reduction and its cost-effectiveness for Ghana. Results show that peak reduction of 15-210 MW is expected by 2040 with a positive return on investment of 2-22% for all designed scenarios.
... The few studies that have examined the more direct environmental impacts of DR programs have provided mixed messages. Fernandez et al. (2016) conclude that energy efficiency and load-shifting measures would promote both economic and environmental performance by enabling load adjustment and reducing system losses. Simulation-based studies regarding price-based DR, which provides a range of time-varying retail electricity prices, indicate that the inclusion of real-time pricing (RTP) and dispatch to the power system substantially alleviates CO 2 emissions (Cardell and Anderson, 2015) and that dynamic electricity tariffs can significantly reduce air pollution caused by NO x and PM2.5 emissions (Gilbraith and Powers, 2013). ...
Although numerous studies have examined the economic benefits of demand response programs, the environmental impacts of such programs have been relatively underexplored. This study assesses the impact of demand resource bidding on the wholesale energy market and the environment, based on three years of high temporal-resolution data from Korea. In this demand resource bidding program, successful bidders were paid the system marginal price for reducing their electrical load at a given hour, which in turn reduced the generation of power from various technologies. This investigation of how carbon dioxide and particulate matter emissions from existing power systems changed with the introduction of the demand bidding program finds that the program altered the system operator's electricity generation portfolio and marginally abated carbon dioxide and particulate matter emissions from the power sector. It also shows that the environmental impact of the program varied over the course of the day and the year. The modest but statistically significant environmental impact of the demand resource bidding program points to the importance of including electricity demand resources in the discussion and development of energy and environmental policies for the power sector.
... They also highlight the importance of levelling the generation peaks through the use of interconnection lines between different regions or countries, especially in Europe. Other studies have focused on the demand for electricity by pointing to the need for better energy policies related to more efficient energy consumption (Roldan et al., 2016). In this study, focused on Spain, a seven-year period is analysed (2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014), and a series of scenarios are proposed to analyse the effects of renewable energy production and the demand-side management of the electricity market. ...
This paper combines random forests with physics-based models to forecast the electricity output of the Mutriku wave farm on the Bay of Biscay. The period analysed was 2014-2016, and the forecast horizon was 24 h in 4-h steps. The Random Forest (RF) machine-learning technique was used, with three sets of inputs: i) the electricity generated at Mutriku, ii) the wave energy flux (WEF) prediction made by the ECMWF wave model at Mutriku's nearest gridpoint, and iii) ocean and atmospheric data for the Bay of Biscay. For this last input, extended empirical orthogonal functions (EOFs) were calculated to reduce the dimensionality of these data, while retaining most of the information. The forecasts are evaluated using the R-Squared, Mean Absolute Error (MAE), and Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE). The model easily outperforms a persistence forecast at 8-10 h and beyond. The most accurate forecasts are achieved by using all three of these inputs. This approach may help to effectively integrate wave farms into the electricity market.
... In this way, the consumer's consumption amount that needs to be supplied by the energy contract, is given by equation (10), where the amount of energy needed is equal to the consumer's consumption subtracted by the actuation of demand response initiatives and distributed or onsite generation. Similar to equation (6), in equation (11) it is presented the limitation of distributed generation contribution into the final scheduling. While equation (6) presents a limitation inside a given type of resource, equation (11) presents a limitation considering all resources. ...
The actual context for smart grid implementation implies the development of tools to support the diverse player's decisions. The present paper addresses a multi-period consumer's management methodology for the scheduling of demand flexibility initiatives and on-site generation. The objective is to minimize the energy costs for the consumer, taking into account his resources. The paper also considers the use of dynamic pricing with the intent of studying its effect on load shifting schedule. The results obtained show how the consumers can use this methodology to achieve new efficiency levels regarding their energy use, and therefore costs.
... Durch diesen Zusammenhang haben Flexibilitätsoptionen gleichzeitig auch Einfluss auf die variablen Kostenanteile der Stromerzeugung sowie deren Treibhausgasemissionen: In Bezug auf die Stromerzeugung im Kraftwerkspark eines Energiesystems führt die RLG zu einer Änderung des Kraftwerkseinsatzes. Wird bspw. weniger Strom in Spitzenlastzeiten und mehr in Niedriglastzeiten verbraucht, führt dies zu einer geringeren Erzeugung in Spitzenlastkraftwerken und zu einer gesteigerten Erzeugung in Grundlastkraftwerken (Grote et al. 2013 Studien zu Potenzialen der Lastverschiebung in Deutschland finden sich für die Endverbrauchssektoren Verkehr (Udrene und Bazbauers 2015;Babrowski et al. 2014;Zhou et al. 2016;Mesari und Krajcar 2015;Andrenacci et al. 2016), Industrie (Finn und Fitzpatrick 2014;Pechmann et al. 2017;Roldan Fernandez et al. 2016;Khripko et al. 2017) und Haushalte (Matar 2017;Nilsson et al. 2017;Katz et al. 2016;Laicane et al. 2015;Khanna et al. 2016 (Holzhammer et al. 2017). ...
Untersucht werden die Auswirkungen flexibler Stromerzeugung in deutschen kommunalen Kläranlagen auf den Kraftwerkseinsatz im Energiesystem sowie mögliche Kosteneinsparungen für Kläranlagenbetreiber und die Änderung der Treibhausgasemissionen der systemischen Stromerzeugung. Die Analysen werden für kommunale Kläranlagen in Deutschland für drei Szenarien im Jahr 2030 durchgeführt. Für die Zielerreichung werden verschiedene methodische Schritte angewendet: Mittels eines Merit-Order-Modells werden Strompreise am Day-Ahead-Markt und Treibhausgasemissionen in stündlicher Auflösung simuliert. Ein Technisches Betriebsmodell beschreibt die technischen Parameter – u. a. BHKW-Nennleistung und Faulgasspeichervolumen – des Bestands kommunaler Kläranlagen. Für die Erarbeitung eines kostenoptimalen Erzeugungsprofils wird ein linearer Optimierungsansatz genutzt. Die durch die flexible Stromerzeugung ermöglichten Kosteneinsparungen befinden sich im unteren Prozentbereich der Betriebskosten der Kläranlagen und stellen daher nur eine geringe Motivation dar, flexible Stromerzeugung umzusetzen (0,1–2 %). Durch die kostenmäßig motivierte flexible Stromerzeugung kann es zu einer Erhöhung der Treibhausgasemissionen kommen. Dies ist durch den Anstieg der Erzeugung aus Grundlastkraftwerken und der Verringerung der Erzeugung aus Spitzenlastkraftwerken begründet. Für das analysierte Fallbeispiel gilt jedoch, dass die Höhe der Änderung der Treibhausgasemissionen – sowohl zusätzliche als auch eingesparte – im Vergleich zu den gesamten Treibhausgasemissionen der Stromerzeugung vernachlässigbar ist.
... Emerging trends favor DSM initiatives as an alternative to constructing additional supply capacity due to economic and environmental constraints associated with the latter (Roldán Fernández, Burgos Payán, Riquelme Santos, & Trigo García, 2016; Monyei & Adewumi, 2017). DSM can help reduce congestion on the grid network by curtailing the demand or shifting the load to other periods with grid capacity surplus (Roldán Fernández et al., 2016;Warren, 2017;Zhang, Jiao, & Chen, 2017). One essential value of DSM is its ability to allow increasing penetration of renewable energies and reducing the need for spinning-reserve supplied by power plants that use fossil fuels (Pina, Silva, & Ferrão, 2012). ...
... The underlying idea of this extra-market policy is that the more renewable energy is integrated into the market, the lower the wholesale price of electricity becomes in the market, since the cheaper generators of renewables will replace the more expensive conventional generators which would otherwise be the marginal units. This is the well-known merit-order effect of renewables [15][16][17]. As long as the premium for renewables does Energies 2018, 11, 3277 4 of 17 not exceed the price reduction in the market, then consumers are not overburdened in their bills [18]. ...
In 2002, the European Union set a target of 10% electricity interconnection capacity for 2020: a target that has been further extended to 15% by 2030. Cross-border interconnection of regional/national electricity systems will allow the EU to enhance its security of supply and to integrate more renewables into energy markets. Although the EU has a common renewable directive, every Member State has its own renewable support policy. For the case of Spain, consumers pay the renewable premium in their electricity bills; however, consumers would not be overburdened if premiums were counter-balanced with the energy-cost reduction due to the merit-order effect of renewables. When two markets are interconnected, the energy exchange through the interconnection yields certain expected rent transfers due to the market rules. However, this exchange is also accompanied by other unforeseen rent transfers related to the regional/national policies on renewables. To the authors’ knowledge, the identification and quantification of these indirect rent transfers has not been previously addressed. This paper analyses and quantifies how the premiums on regional/national renewables are distributed between neighbouring countries through cross-border exchanges. The analysis focuses on the Iberian/Spanish system and its neighbours, although the methodology could be extended to other systems. To this end, data on the market and premiums has been considered, as well as the exchanges between France, Spain, Portugal, and Morocco, for the years 2015–2017. The main finding of this work is that the Spanish system, due to the lack of a coordinated/harmonized renewable premium policy, has been “importing” about 40 M€/year of renewable premium from France and 17 M€/year from Portugal while “exporting” about 66 M€/year towards the Moroccan systems.
... As a previous step, and with the intention of advancing and explaining some of the trends and the results, a qualitative model will be presented based on the linearization of the market around the point of operation. Subsequently, the proposed methodology will be used to investigate the validity of the hypotheses and predictions derived from this preliminary linearized analysis [9], [10]. For the new scenario analyzed, a new hourly merit-order generation curve is produced by first locating the bids of the type of agent under interest (i.e. ...
The development of the renewable energies has been especially significant in the case of Spain in the last decade. This development has been the result of a favorable regulation where renewable generators (special regime) received income from the market and received premiums. However, in the years 2013 and 2014 there have been major changes in the energy legislation. This new regulation points out the renewable energies as responsible for the increase in regulated costs of the system. For this reason this and subsequent new renewable electricity support scheme have pursued the purpose of reducing the remuneration system of renewable energies.
Therefore the reduction of premiums received by renewable generators is changing the way in which these generators participate in the day-ahead electricity market. Traditionally renewable generators participate in the market submitting bids at zero prices or close to zero. This is because the renewable generator wanted to ensure its participation in the market while it has the renewable resource available. The energy produced by a renewable generator is paid to the market clearing price and also receives the premium. However, the suppression of the premium causes the renewable generator to start bidding including its costs of production instead of submitting their bid at zero prices.
This work analyzes the impact on the day-ahead electricity market of renewable generation offering its production at a price different from zero, what could be of interest as a means of forecast the future behavior of the market. To reach this goal, it will be used information from the day-ahead Spanish/Iberian electricity market, identifying the renewable units and modifying their offers in order to determine the new market clearing point
Globally, two billion domestic refrigeration systems (DRSs) represent 4 % of electricity consumption and stimulate Demand Side Management (DSM) actions like smart load shifting to balance energy supply and demand. Additionally, they offer the potential for Thermal Energy Storage (TES), which is crucial to revolutionizing thermal batteries for Renewable Energy Sources (RES). Explicitly, leveraging Phase Change Materials (PCMs) can also enhance the coefficient of performance (COP) and resilience to power outages in refrigerators/freezers. Despite extensive research, a comprehensive review addressing the barriers still hindering PCMs’ adoption in DRSs for storing renewables remains absent. This paper fills that gap by covering existent subzero cold storage PCMs, debating corrosion and leakage issues, and summarizing findings from experiments on DRSs with PCMs at the evaporators and compartments. It concludes by reviewing state-of-the-art numerical tools for system design, optimization, and control. Our findings highlight that novel PCMs have improved thermal conductivity and reduced supercooling but require further development toward long-term chemical stability. Experimental studies project up to fourfold autonomy extensions and 50 % reductions in energy consumption, operating costs, and emissions in PCM-enhanced DRSs. Literature reveals that systems with up to 2500 kJ of additional latent storage capacity have been investigated, primarily relying on exhaustive experimental/empirical studies. To advance this field, this review proposes future research directions to unleash the PCMs’ potential for accelerating DRSs’ transformation into advanced thermal batteries for renewable energy storage. Specifically, we advocate for developing simplified dynamic models to enable virtual test benches that support parametric studies and avoid complex CFD simulations.
The evolution of China’s renewable power pricing regulation from subsidy-driven fixed feed-in tariffs (FIT) to market-oriented, quota-based renewable portfolio standards (RPS) is a crucial institutional transformation designed to advance the low-carbon energy transition. The government’s price regulation of mandatory and non-mandatory quotas has a direct impact on the optimal production decision-making behavior of renewable and coal-fired power producers, which determines the effective substitution of fossil energy by renewable energy in China, and relates to the successful realization of the low-carbon energy transition. This article presents the construction of a tripartite evolutionary game model under both non-mandatory and mandatory quotas, employing MATLAB software to simulate and assess the effectiveness of a tradable green certificate (TGC) system in the presence of mandatory quotas. Based on stable equilibrium strategies, we discuss the impact of FIT on green certificate trading under four different subsidy withdrawal strategies and three quota and penalty scenarios. The results indicate the following. First, when renewable power producers certify and engage in green certificate trading, coal-fired power producers purchase green certificates, and the government implements mandatory quotas, the participants in the game achieve an equilibrium strategy combination. Second, the findings validate the effectiveness of the RPS–TGC model (i.e., the green certificate trading system in the presence of mandatory quotas) for electricity price regulation. Third, the root cause of the failure of China’s current voluntary green certificate trading system is the government's non-mandatory quotas. Accordingly, it is proposed that the marketization of renewable electricity prices in China needs to adopt a fast-then-slow exit of FIT subsidies, with renewable energy power quotas set at 20% and penalty standards set at 1.5P.
the combination of falling renewable technology costs, with high and rising electricity prices and non-obstructive national regulations are making distributed generation increasingly attractive. In the case of photovoltaic (PV) systems, even domestic consumers find it profitable to self-produce part of their electricity demand, instead of purchasing all their energy from the grid, which is changing the current way of obtaining and consuming electricity. The purpose of this work is to estimate the decarbonisation effect in the Iberian/Spanish market, produced by domestic PV self-consumption, once the new regulation, passed in 2019, has removed the previous regulatory barriers in Spain. To achieve this goal, the nationwide, distributed, domestic PV self-production was turned into a reduction of the aggregate demand in the market, and the new clearing point and the corresponding dispatched generators list was established, by emulating the performance of the market operator. Based on 2016–2019 market data, the results suggest that self-consumption could decarbonise the Iberian electricity market, with an average rate of just over 300 tCO2-eq/year for each GWh/year of household PV self-consumed energy.
Support for renewable power in Spain has waxed and waned with changing circumstances over the last several decades. This chapter examines what is likely to happen in the years ahead. At this point, the prospects for a favorable environment are generally positive. The left-wing coalition government formed in early 2020 has established ambitious and detailed targets for the growth of renewable capacity through 2030. Attaining those targets, and the underlying decarbonization goals they are intended to serve, however, is not assured. One can identify three broad challenges: (1) actually building sufficient capacity, (2) connecting so much capacity to the grid, and (3) successfully integrating the resulting production into the electricity market. To address these issues, the coalition government has devised a number of policies that, taken together, could transform the power system to a greater extent than any time since the liberalization measures of the 1990s.
The integration of residential photovoltaic (PV) systems for self-consumption is expected to unlock a variety of economic, technical and social benefits, such as the creation of local work and the reduction of the price of electricity, CO2 emissions and electrical power losses in the transmission network. In spite of all these advantages, regulatory barriers prevented the development of renewable self-consumption in Spain prior to October 2018, when a new regulation introduced the right to self-consume electrical energy without charges. This work aims to estimate the effect of residential self-consumption on the Iberian electricity market. To achieve this goal, a ceteris paribus approach was adopted, the accumulated scattered PV self-production was turned into a reduction of the aggregate demand in the market and the new clearing point was established. Based on 2017 market data, the results showed that a 1% curtailment of the annual demand due to PV self-consumption could reduce the cost of the market-traded energy by almost 2%.
The profitability of household PV self-consumption, intended with the new renewable self-consumption regulation in Spain, is expected to boost its deployment. Renewable self-consumption, in addition to savings in the electricity bill of consumers, also unlocks a variety of benefits such as the reduction of CO2 emissions and electrical power losses in the transmission network, the reduction of electricity price in the wholesale market, the energy dependence rate or the creation of local work. In spite of all these advantages, many barriers have prevented the development of renewable self-consumption in Spain until October 2018, when a new regulation introduced the right to self-consume renewable electrical energy without charges. This work is intended to assess the profitability of residential PV self-consumption in Spain. To achieve that goal the hourly profiles of demand and PV self-production for an average dwelling have been elaborated based on one-year data from the System Operator. Our findings highlight that a 1.5-2 kW-peak PV commercial self-consumption kit yields to an optimum net billing situation for an average dwelling, which means an effective saving of the previous electricity bill.
Variable renewable energy sources display different space-time variability driving the availability of energy generated from these sources. Complementarity among variable renewable energies in time and space allows reducing the variability of power supply and helps matching the electricity demand curve. This work investigates the temporal structure of complementarity along an alpine transect in North-East Italy, considering a 100% renewable energy mix scenario composed by photovoltaic and run-of-the-river energy. We analyze the dominant scales of variability of variable renewable energy sources and electricity demand. In addition, we introduce a new metric, the wavelet-based complementarity index, to quantify the potential complementarity between two different energy sources. We show that this index varies at different temporal scales and it helps explaining the discrepancy between demand and supply in the study area. Continuous and discrete wavelet analyses are applied to assess the energy balance variability at multiple temporal scales and to identify the optimal mix of renewable energies, respectively. This work describes therefore an effective approach to investigate the temporal-scale dependency of the variance in the energy balance and can be further extended to different and more complex situations.
Following the proposal of the “Belt and Road” strategy, Xinjiang has gradually become a critical wind power base and energy transmission channel in China. At present, however, much of Xinjiang's potential wind power is being curtailed. Owing to Xinjiang's strategic position, this issue may negatively impact wind power development in Xinjiang and China's overall energy strategy, and it is thus necessary to identify the causes of and solutions to wind power curtailment in Xinjiang. This study analyzes the problem of wind power development in Xinjiang, and proposes both technical and market policy measures. The research results show that establishing a regional power spot market and improving power system flexibility are the fundamental ways to solve the problem of wind power curtailment in Xinjiang.
Energy flexible buildings through smart demand-side management (DSM) or smart demand response (DR) using efficient energy storage, are currently one of the most promising options to deploy low-carbon technologies in the electricity networks without the need of reinforcing existing networks. Although, many ignore the potential, economic and energetic benefits these alternatives could hold for buildings, users and tariffs.
In the study carried out a control system of demand management measures is analyzed, based on the use of the buildings' thermal mass as thermal storage (preheating, precooling and night ventilation). This demand management system is analyzed in five existing residential buildings in the so-called reference scenario (construction, user and current prices). Subsequently, comes the analysis of the optimal management strategy choice from the system, when facing changes in the housings' constructive characteristics and electric tariffs.
The dynamism of the management system stands out from the results achieved, as well as the dependence of the possible strategy choices on the climate zones. In the reference situation, the maximum economic savings obtained after the implementation of the management system correspond to 3.2% for heating and 8.5% for cooling. In this same manner, when the buildings are previously rehabilitated, the savings can double even generating energy savings. Finally, it can be concluded that the low installation costs of these measures make them a winning solution, as long as the electric pricing and user behavior allow the required flexibility.
The global energy market is still monopolized to a great extent by the production, trade and consumption of oil and gas. The EU is no exception to this rule with a high import ratio of both oil and gas. Unreliable oil producers, geopolitical instability in many oil-rich countries, economic and resource nationalism—which are a threat to sustainable development—transportation-related hazards, and the high volatility of international oil prices are constraining importers to face significant risks.
Human work has been automated and replaced by various smart appliances at residential buildings with an objective to save time and energy. So, there is a massive upsurge of energy consumption everywhere and in due course, it resulted in increased electrical bills than before. In order to meet the growing utilization of more electricity by consumers at residences, internalization of renewable energy systems are firmly recommended for a better transformation. Hither, the IEMS is principally aiming to truncate the rate of electricity bills to consumers. Likewise, scheduling the usage of smart appliances and implementing load management practices prudently, a peak load reduction can be certainly accomplished by effectively using Solar Power, Batteries and Utility Grid. Already existing TOU tariff is employed in the process along with restructured components and renewable resources to manage the loads of different smart appliances according to their usage priority at different times of a day. This automated system is able to manage multiple heavy loads smartly with the help of renewable energy resources even at peak hours of a day.
Energy systems with a high share of renewable electricity generation face a challenge associated with surplus electricity generation. Flexibility options may help to integrate renewable electricity and reduce the need for electricity from fossil fuels. Load shifting is one of the flexibility options that lead to residual load smoothing in energy systems. In this paper, the effects of load shifting by dynamic electricity purchase on future residual load smoothing was assessed using wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) in Germany as a case study. As dynamic electricity purchase is motivated economically, a consumer’s demand for supplying flexibility options needs a price signal. Therefore, electricity wholesale prices on an hourly basis were modeled for 2030 using a merit order simulation for two scenarios. Relevant data for WWTPs was obtained from primary data suppliers, which was then aggregated. The effects on residual load smoothing were assessed by optimizing WWTPs electricity purchase costs on a daily basis. Our results show that German WWTPs have a potential to integrate 120 MWel of surplus electric power. The developed methodology has a high potential to be applied to other potential load shifting actors when assessing the potential of residual load smoothing and renewable electricity integration. This can be achieved by adapting boundary constraints to other electricity consumers.
This paper reviews electricity consumption feedback literature to explore the potential of electricity feedback to affect residential consumers’ electricity usage patterns. The review highlights a substantial amount of literature covering the debate over the effectiveness of different feedback criteria to residential customer acceptance and overall conservation and peak demand reduction. Researchers studying the effects of feedback on everyday energy use have observed substantial variation in effect size, both within and between studies. Although researchers still continue to question the types of feedback that are most effective in encouraging conservation and peak load reduction, some trends have emerged. These include that feedback be received as quickly as possible to the time of consumption; be related to a standard; be clear and meaningful and where possible both direct and indirect feedback be customised to the customer. In general, the literature finds that feedback can reduce electricity consumption in homes by 5 to 20 percent, but that significant gaps remain in our knowledge of the effectiveness and cost benefit of feedback.
The incipient large-scale energy-storage technologies are not sufficiently developed yet, which means that the wind power production depends on the wind speed at every moment. This, along with the fact that the wind resource is not constant over time, makes wind power production quite variable. Therefore, an artificial intelligence-based technique (M5P algorithm) is applied to empirical hourly data to determine the influence of wind power technology on the spot market for different levels of wind resource in 2012. It concludes that wind power depressed the spot prices between 7.42 and 10.94 €/MW h for a wind power production of 90% and 110% of the real one, respectively. Furthermore, taking into account the important presence of wind power in the Spanish generation mix, the above range has been extended up to 0% in order to determine the worst and best level of wind power production for the Spanish electrical system (from an economical point of view). To do so, both feed-in-tariffs and wind power impact on spot market (merit order effect) have been accounted in accordance with the different levels of wind power production. Since empirical data from 2012 have been used to conduct the research, the results presented in this paper may provide policy makers with a worst and best-case scenario to discuss about the convenience of the last cutting expenses over wind power technology in Spain.
The influence of the integration of various amount of generation form renewable sources in the Spanish/Iberian Electricity Market is addressed in this work. To reach that goal the hourly information data published by the Spanish/Iberian Market Operator (OMEL/OMIE) for the five-year period 2008-2012 was used. A method similar to the procedure used by the Market Operator has been used to analyze the effect of the integration of generation based on renewable energy in the wholesale market. Previously, the effect of the complex bids on the cost of the traded energy is examined. For the considered period, the reduction of the cost of the traded energy in the market due the integration of renewable producers was 8% greater than the premium paid by the consumers, while the complex bids are responsible of almost a half of the actual cost of the traded energy.
The argument for the implementation of 'smart' metering, which is an elastic term, varies according to circumstance and place. In some countries, the business case for establishing an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) relies in part on improving consumption feedback to customers and assisting in the transition to lower-impact energy systems. There is an expectation that AMI will lead to reductions in both the demand and the cost to serve customers through improved communication, but little evidence exists to show overall demand reduction. To what extent might smart meters improve the prospects for customer engagement? To assess this question, end-user perceptions and practices must be considered along with metering hardware and economics. Using the theory of affordances, qualitative research is examined to understand how householders have used consumption feedback, with and without smart meters. Although AMI offers possibilities for household energy management and customer-utility relations, there is little evidence to suggest it will automatically achieve a significant reduction in energy demand. For that, there has to be a determined focus on overall demand reduction (rather than on peak electricity demand reduction), on designing customer interfaces for ease of understanding, and on guiding occupants towards appropriate action. Appropriate forms of interface, feedback, narrative, and support will be needed to reach diverse populations.
Since the energy crisis of 2000-2001 in the western United States, much attention has been given to boosting demand response in electricity markets. One of the best ways to let that happen is to pass through wholesale energy costs to retail customers. This can be accomplished by letting retail prices vary dynamically, either entirely or partly. For the overwhelming majority of customers, that requires a change out of the metering infrastructure, which may cost as much as $40 billion for the US as a whole. While a good portion of this investment can be covered by savings in distribution system costs, about 40% may remain uncovered. This investment gap could be covered by reductions in power generation costs that could be brought about through demand response. Thus, state regulators in many states are investigating whether customers will respond to the higher prices by lowering demand and if so, by how much. To help inform this assessment, this paper surveys the evidence from the 15 most recent pilots, experiments and full-scale implementations of dynamic pricing of electricity. It finds conclusive evidence that households respond to higher prices by lowering usage. The magnitude of price response depends on several factors, such as the magnitude of the price increase, the presence of central air conditioning and the availability of enabling technologies such as two-way programmable communicating thermostats and always-on gateway systems that allow multiple end-uses to be controlled remotely. In addition, the design of the studies, the tools used to analyze the data and the geography of the assessment influence demand response. Across the range of experiments studied, time-of-use rates induce a drop in peak demand that ranges between 3 and 6% and critical-peak pricing (CPP) tariffs induce a drop in peak demand that ranges between 13 and 20%. When accompanied with enabling technologies, the latter set of tariffs lead to a reduction in peak demand in the 27-44% range.
The German feed-in support of electricity generation from renewable energy sources has led to high growth rates of the supported technologies. Critics state that the costs for consumers are too high. An important aspect to be considered in the discussion is the price effect created by renewable electricity generation. This paper seeks to analyse the impact of privileged renewable electricity generation on the electricity market in Germany. The central aspect to be analysed is the impact of renewable electricity generation on spot market prices. The results generated by an agent-based simulation platform indicate that the financial volume of the price reduction is considerable. In the short run, this gives rise to a distributional effect which creates savings for the demand side by reducing generator profits. In the case of the year 2006, the volume of the merit-order effect exceeds the volume of the net support payments for renewable electricity generation which have to be paid by consumers.
It is sometimes argued that renewables are “expensive”. However, although it is generally true that the private costs of renewable electricity generation are certainly above those of conventional electricity, that statement fails to consider the social benefits provided by electricity from renewable energy sources (RES-E), including environmental and socioeconomic ones. This paper empirically analyses an additional albeit usually neglected benefit: the reduction in the wholesale price of electricity as a result of more RES-E generation being fed into the grid. The case of wind generation in Spain shows that this reduction is greater than the increase in the costs for the consumers arising from the RES-E support scheme (the feed-in tariffs), which are charged to the final consumer. Therefore, a net reduction in the retail electricity price results, which is positive from a consumer point of view. This provides an additional argument for RES-E support and contradicts one of the usual arguments against RES-E deployment: the excessive burden on the consumer.
In theory, In-Home Displays (IHDs) can revolutionize the way utilities communicate information to customers because they can induce changes in customer behavior even when they are not accompanied by a change in electric prices or rebates for purchasing efficient equipment. IHDs provide consumers with direct feedback—real-time information on energy consumption and costs—and turn a once opaque and static electric bill into a transparent, dynamic, and controllable process. However, to what extent do consumers actually respond to the direct feedback provided by IHDs?In this paper, we seek to empirically answer this question by reviewing a dozen utility pilot programs in North America and abroad that focus on the energy conservation impact of IHDs. We also review overall customer opinions and attitudes towards IHDs and direct feedback to the extent that this information is available from the pilot studies.Our review indicates that the direct feedback provided by IHDs encourages consumers to make more efficient use of energy. We find that consumers who actively use an IHD can reduce their consumption of electricity on average by about 7 percent when prepayment of electricity is not involved. When consumers both use an IHD and are on an electricity prepayment system, they can reduce their electricity consumption by about twice that amount. In regard to demand response impacts, we find that the impact of time-of-use rates is augmented by direct feedback from IHDs.