Since electricity went mainstream during the early to mid-twentieth century, a critical problem facing providers concerned how to manage the perpetually growing grid of power lines leading them into consumer homes. Even more important to the provider was how to control usage of these lines, as excessive simultaneous demand would theoretically (and infrequently, in practice) cause widespread blackouts. For decades all which could be done was to survey trends and request customers avoid the system during anticipated peak occurrences, but the turn of the millennium, the advent of advanced ecological and computing technologies and new economic models have introduced new solutions to this dilemma.
Demand response, is at its most basic level, a movement within the electrical industry to revolutionize its relationship with consumers. In an effort to make the existing grid “smarter” and more efficient, electricity providers have begun inviting consumers to participate in the process of regulating peak usage. Perhaps the most traditional methodology for curtailing use during anticipated peak hours has been to charge more per kilowatt during those times, thereby encouraging consumers to procrastinate on running dishwashers, laundry machines or other high-consumption devices until the later hours when demand drops. New programs under consideration would create a more capitalist system for energy consumption; one such program would feature a system “in which consumers bid on specific load reductions in the electricity wholesale market. A bid is accepted if it is less than the market price. When a bid is accepted, the customer must curtail his load by the amount specified in the bid or face penalties” (Ahbaldi 2007). As other possibilities likewise integrate the consumer, it seems the future of demand response will be remarkably more democratic.
Keeping in theme with these individualist overtones, technological innovations of the last several decades also hold promise for demand response. As the technology has improved and become more efficient, home-based solar power generation has spiked in popularity. To take advantage of this development, one revolutionary idea that has been posited would completely overhaul our current conception of the consumer-provider relationship, as well as the structure of the power grid as currently exists; rather than simply charge for electricity to go in one direction (from traditional provider to consumer), some would like to see a “two-way line” develop in which customers with solar panels would feed into the grid and receive credits for their production. Alternatively, though less revolutionary, new “smart” panel technologies may allow electrical companies to work directly with consumers to regulate their usage in such a way that will tax the grid less and ergo the consumer as well.
Sources:
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378779608001272
http://www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/Technologies_Demand_Response/Evolution-of-demand-response-Johnson-Controls-led-consortium-embodies-several-trends-4421.html
http://www.smartgridnews.com/artman/publish/Technologies_Demand_Response/Demand-side-technology-passes-important-test-in-Ontario-3862.html