Demand side management

The demand for electricity is rapidly increasing in WA driven by the connection of new businesses and homes, and by the rapid rise in air conditioner use. Owing to this increasing electricity demand and limited network capacity, demand management aims to change when and how much electricity industrial, commercial, and residential consumers use in order to ensure that network loading is maintained within capacity limits.

We are responding to this challenge with initiatives that target the reduction of peak demand as well as the broader conservation and efficient usage of energy. In addition to deferring capital expenditure on new network capacity, these initiatives can also reduce overall energy consumption leading to a decrease in damaging green house gas emissions.

Working with customers and retailers, we are thinking differently about energy usage. For example: shifting energy usage to off-peak times, agreements to reduce demand at peak times upon request, substituting sources of generation, installing more efficient equipment, switching fuels, direct load control and energy efficiency education programs.

Initiatives such as Green Town and Beat the Peak are helping Western Power manage peak demand and extend the life of existing network assets.

Why do we need Demand Management

Western Power spends millions of dollars each year increasing the capacity of the network to ensure reliable supply is maintained for those short periods in the year when the network load is at a peak. The peak is the point at which demand for electricity is at its highest. Depending on the area and time of year, the peak times may occur in summer or winter. In Denmark and Walpole for example, peak demand is between 5:30pm and 7:30pm, and during busy holiday periods when a lot more people visit the area.

The electricity network is built to provide for peak use and it becomes important to be able to manage peak demand in order to cost effectively expand the network and therefore keep electricity prices at a reasonable level. For instance, it is sometimes cheaper to reduce peak demand, rather than building new network infrastructure to increase supply capacity.

Through demand management, money is saved from not having to build new underutilised network to cater for peak loads that occur for just a few days in a year, and consumers benefit from lower electricity charges as a result.

Western Power embraces demand management which compliments our role as an Energy Solutions business and our corporate objective of sustainable network development. Western Power is also obliged under the access code  to consider alternatives to supply side network capacity investment such as demand management where this leads to lower overall costs.

Approaches to Managing Demand

Approaches to demand management entail targeted incentives, technologies and customer education programs directed towards reducing or changing patterns of energy use.

• In implementing these approaches, what Demand Management may mean for our commercial and industrial customers is outlined below.
• An agreement to reduce your demand at the time of peak on request from Western Power.
• An agreement to move your main hours of operation to earlier or later in the day on days of peak demand.
• An agreement to substitute where your power comes from during peak hours, ie use a generator, or cogeneration.
• Installing more efficient equipment, such as lights that have a lower power consumption.
• Changing some electrical loads to other fuels, such as natural gas.
• Improving the power factor of loads through installation of power factor correction capacitor banks.

For residential customers, implementing demand management may mean:

• Direct load control of air conditioners through the installation of small switching devices which allows power consumption to be controlled for a few minutes in every half hour at the time of peak. Customers generally do not experience any difference in comfort during these events.
• Off peak tariffs to encourage electricity use at times other than during peak, particularly useful for hot water systems.
• Incentives for improving energy efficiency of homes and installing energy efficient appliances.
• Broad base energy efficiency programs such as Beat the Peak campaign aimed at raising awareness of electricity peak usage and the significant contribution of air conditioners to the peak.
• Energy efficiency customer education programs.

What can you do to help reduce electricity consumption?

To find out what you can do please visit the energy efficiency at home, school and work pages.

Demand Management initiatives and programs

Western Power is currently in the process of developing demand management capability within the business to provide alternative solutions to network supply side capacity investment.

We are doing this through trialling a number of demand management technologies, and developing related processes for the consideration of demand management alternatives in accordance with the access code.

Undertaking demand management research through various trials and initiatives allows Western Power to build experience and capability in this area. Some of the initiatives

Western Power is currently undertaking are:

• Green Town project which aims to reduce demand and educate the community in the Demark and Walpole areas, with the objective to defer the need for costly new lines.
  Nedlands, Dalkeith and Claremont air conditioner direct load control trials conducted in 2008.
• Intelligent control of CBD building air conditioner systems to reduce electricity demand and increase efficiency.
• Installation of small hybrid renewable power systems to provide an alternative supply to edge of grid loads which are subject to poor reliability. The same technology is also to be used to reduce customer peak demand whilst maintaining connection to the network.
• Undertaking a pilot project to actively procure a demand management solution to defer the need to build a new zone substation.

Western Power is also developing a planning framework to systematically screen supply side capacity expansion projects for viable demand management alternatives as a means to defer supply side projects and save costs.

We will be building on the IMO demand management procurement processes already established for major projects and applying them more broadly to other projects.

Western Power seeks to expand and lead the demand management procurement process for projects not classified as major projects.