| dc.description.abstract | Globally, the electricity systems are undergoing major transitions from robust, carbon intensive, and firm power conventional systems to uncertain, intermittent and variable renewable energy integrated low carbon systems. These transitioning electricity systems have moved from a situation of “matching available supply with dynamic demand” to “matching dynamic supply with dynamic demand”. These transformations in the electricity system have led to several new challenges - (i) significant mismatch in periods of high supply and high demand, (ii) shift in the method of accessing energy resources for electricity generation from “procure, store and generate when needed” to “generate when available”, (iii) continuous struggle to match variable supply with variable demand, and (iv) installed capacity redundancy, temporal as well as permanent leading to low plant load factors. Actions on the supply-side alone will not be enough to address these challenges and achieve optimal functioning of the electricity system. We need effective demand-side solutions too, to manage the variations in both electricity supply and demand. Thus. the relevant research question is – Can the demand-side interventions become the effective solutions for managing the variabilities introduced by the renewable energy mainstreaming?
The Overall goal of the proposed research is to study the effectiveness of demand-side interventions as potential solutions for managing the uncertainties, intermittencies and variabilities introduced by the integration of renewable energy sources and technologies into the conventional electricity systems. The first part of the research problem deals with study of the dynamics of electricity demand and modelling the demand patterns and the variabilities. To address this problem, initially logical clustering is used to segment the daily load curves, and then Monte Carlo simulation is employed to model and recreate the load curves. Second part of the problem deals with identification and prioritization of demand-side interventions to moderate demand variations in such a way that they match with the supply variations. This is performed by developing, implementing and validating mathematical model-based approach that integrates both the demand- and supply-side requirements, constraints, etc. Finally, few scenarios are evaluated using the mathematical model to study the effectiveness of DSM options to solve the supply-side problems. The results and findings establish the importance of demand response in managing the variations in both the electricity supply- and demand-sides in ensuring an effective match between electricity supply and demand. Finally, based on the results and findings, inputs for policy formulation, planning and decision-making are put forth for all the stakeholders | en_US |
