Electricity demand shaping in an Australian context

The Australian electricity industry, in the coming decades, will be required to undergo revolutionary, transformative structural change driven by changing electricity demand patterns. The rise of uncontrollable distributed generation, battery storage, air conditioners, and - in the near future - electric vehicles, will together ensure that the nature of energy demand in the future is dissimilar to that of the past. Whilst reliance on centralised generation to deliver energy will decrease, overall reliance on and complexity of the electricity grid will increase. How to manage the change to be gradual, steady and economically efficient is an unsolved and immediate problem that confronts stakeholders in the electricity industry today. To achieve the aforementioned change in such a manner is not a trivial problem. Benefits that centralised generation provided may not be easily replaced - for example, the frequency stabilising service of spinning reserve. The nature of distributed generation may itself create power quality issues that would not otherwise have arisen if power flow was unidirectional - for example, overvoltage (voltage exceeding the upper regulatory limit). The large demand for electricity that air conditioners and electric vehicles imply may trigger large and expensive infrastructure upgrades which may be unnecessary and/or under-utilised. Battery storage could allow its owner to become less reliant on the electricity grid, thereby undermining revenue required by network operators to maintain the grid and services. A large contribution to a gradual, steady and economically efficient transition can be provided by demand shaping. Traditionally, demand has been considered uncontrollable, but by managing loads, energy storage, and distributed generation, uncontrollable variations in power quality could be mitigated, and electricity infrastructure used more efficiently. The concept of altering overall demand, whether it be effected by altering demand or distributed supply, is referred to in this thesis as demand shaping. This thesis examines and proposes demand shaping methods on both the supply-side and demand-side. In the second chapter is a brief introduction to demand shaping with distributed generation. The third chapter presents research examining the likely improvements to power quality that could be achieved by implementing real power curtailment and reactive power support with distributed generation. The fourth chapter identifies an instability in the inverter response that may occur - it is dependent on the system configuration and implementation of the real power curtailment and reactive power support functions. The fifth chapter provides an introduction to demand shaping by managing demand - included is background information; a historical overview; a literature review of demand shaping technologies using financial incentives; and, an economic case for research into the field. The sixth and seventh chapters outline the author’s demand shaping solution developed by the application of non-cooperative game theory. Last, the eighth chapter concludes the thesis by summarising key findings and highlighting future avenues for research.