On the Acceptability of Electricity Demand Side Management by Time of Day

Abstract

Advances in the introduction of fluctuating renewable energies, such as photovoltaics (PV), have caused power-system destabilization. However, stability can be improved if consumers change the way they use power, moving to time slots when the PV output in an area is high. In large cities in developed countries, where the types of distributed energy resources are varied, demand side management (DSM) in which consumers share power supplies and adjust the demand has received considerable attention. Under effective DSM that uses the latest information and communication technology to maximize the use of renewable energy, we believe that sparing use of appliances is not the only solution to address global warming. If behavioral change shifts the use of domestic appliances from one time slot to other time slots, we do not have to abandon the use of these appliances. The aim of this study is to determine the possibility of such behavioral changes in people in order to provide basic information for operating an effective DSM. To that end, we conducted a questionnaire-based survey of 10,000 households in Japan. We investigated the proportion of people responding to a request for a demand response (DR) under the given presented reward in time slots when DSM by DR is required. We also analyzed the factors influencing people’s response to a request for a DR. Furthermore, based on the rewards likely to be achieved in the adjustable power market, we estimated how much adjustable power would be realized.