Demand-Side Management as a Network Planning Tool: Review of Drivers, Benefits and Opportunities for South Africa

Abstract

The reliability and security of an electric power supply have become pivotal to the proper functioning of modern society. Traditionally, the electric power supply system has been designed with the objective of being able to adequately meet present and future demand, with efforts to maintain supply reliability being focused primarily on the supply side. Over the decades, however, the value of demand-side management—efforts focused on enhancing the efficient and effective use of electricity in support of the power system and customer needs—has been widely acknowledged as being able to play a greater role in ensuring that the key objectives of power system operation are satisfied. This article presents a study of demand-side management and opportunities for incorporating it into network planning as an effective means of addressing supply capacity constraints in the South African electric grid. The main drivers, benefits and potential barriers to the effective implementation of demand-side management are examined, along with the main enabling technologies. The key finding of the study is that the effective integration of demand-side management into network planning requires a shift from the traditional network planning approach to one that is more suited to fully exploiting the flexibility resources available on the demand side of the network.