Perth residents in WA first air conditioning trial
Release Date: 15 September 2007
Western Power is writing to 6,000 potential volunteers in Nedlands, Claremont and Dalkeith to take part in an air conditioning trial to see if electricity use at peak times can be lowered without affecting people’s comfort levels.
The trial will advance research into energy efficiency and raise awareness about electricity use patterns and their impact on the electricity network.
Participants will be offered $100 to be part of the trial. If they choose, residents can provide Western Power the details of a chosen charity to receive the money instead.
If this year's trial is successful it may be used in other suburbs and regional towns as an opportunity to enable greater energy efficiency and to gather more data on the usefulness of the device.
Western Power’s Managing Director, Mr Doug Aberle said that the trial involves installing a small device on volunteers’ refrigerative and reverse cycle air conditioning units to alter the regular ‘on/off’ cycle of the unit’s compressor for a few minutes (maximum 15 minutes) during peak electricity use periods.
“The air conditioner’s fan will continue to circulate air, so residents shouldn’t notice a difference in their comfort levels.
"This type of trial has already been successfully conducted in other states in Australia and similar devices have been in use for several years in some North American states as an energy efficiency tool," he said.
In Western Australia short but high peaks in electricity use are increasing, mostly due to the rapid rise in the number of air conditioners in homes.
82% of Western Australian homes now have air conditioners installed.
Mr Aberle said that all electricity networks build to provide for peak use times.
“The question is, do communities want to live with more and more infrastructure when simple changes to energy use can reduce the need?
“The substations, cables, powerlines and other infrastructure that we build to support energy needs are not driven by normal consumption, but by the total peak. We build to cover the worst case scenario.
“Through this trial we will measure electricity demand on the Nedlands main powerline over summer and see if ‘a little from a lot of people’ can deliver a reduction in the peaks.
“Peaks in the electricity system in the past couple of years are only lasting for a total of a few hours each summer but they drive multi million dollar investment in the network.
“With the rate at which the peak demand is growing this trend will magnify in future years,” he said.
The trial will only be available to residents in Nedlands, Claremont and Dalkeith for the 2007/2008 summer who own a refrigerative or reverse cycle air conditioner. Evaporative air conditions are not suitable for this trial.
Residents whose electricity is provided by the Nedlands main powerline will receive written invitations in the next fortnight.
Contact us
If you have any questions regarding this media release please email us: media@westernpower.com.au
