Demand Response

I desired to find a different definition from my classmates for demand response, but I could not find a more precise definition than the one stated in Wikipedia. It is published from the FERC, which stands for Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. According to Wikipedia and the FERC, demand response is defined as changes in electric usage by end-use customers from their normal consumption patterns in response to changes in the price of electricity over time, or to incentive payments designed to induce lower electricity use at times of high wholesale market prices or when system reliability is jeopardized. To summarize the definition and make it easier for you to understand: demand response is the end-use costumers reducing their use of electricity in response to the power grid needs, economic signal from a competitive wholesale market or special retail rates. You might have some problems grasping some of the convoluted terms used in both definitions, but I hope the blog will try to simplify and clarify them.

In our daily life, when you turn on a gadget you expect an immediate response:  You do not wait for a light bulb to come on after you have flipped the switch. It is instant. Have you asked yourself: how does electricity deliver?

That is the power grid. According to an article named “How demand response works” published by Maria Trimarchi, electricity is generated at a power plant and transmitted to local substations where transformers turn it into a usable voltage. Then it is distributed into our homes and businesses through a web of high voltage transmission lines, which is the grid.

The demand for electricity might be tremendous not only in the afternoon and early evening but also in the hot summer days (air conditioners run all-day long). When everyone utilizes his or her electrical devices at the same time it is called peak usage time. The power grid generates only the electricity we request. So, we can say it is our responsibility to start the habitat of energy conservation. According to rmi.org, the Energy Information Administration predicts the demand will increase at 40 percent by 2030. In this case; we need to find a solution to decrease the demand load. Thanks to the demand response we can reduce the issue stated earlier. Demand response programs reward residential, commercial, and industrial consumers with incentives for reducing or shifting their energy use on days when demand for energy is highest (such as peak hours), helping to reduce stress on the system and ensure adequate supplies of power.

The purpose of these programs is to take a more fiscally and environmentally responsible approach by avoiding the necessity to construct and maintain additional power plants that would be suitable only for few hours during the year. It replaces peaking power plants efficiently with a more efficient, “virtual” power plant. It also keeps supply and demand in balance. The demand response clearly contributes in a more clean and renewable energy. According to energysmart.enernoc.com, demand response is a great pinch-hitter: it can adjust demand strategically so that each megawatt of renewable energy does not have to be matched with another megawatt of carbon-emitting, fossil-fuel-fired generation.

To conclude, I hope the blog was helpful and covered all the information.