Integrated Demand Side Management in Network Planning for Utility Companies

Abstract

In the way of transferring from public benefits authorities to developers and investors, the annual growth rate will increase rapidly through a strategy of sustainable development. With the high economic growth, it is predicted that electricity demand will be also increased yearly. A major challenge for ADDC (Abu Dhabi Distribution Company) policy makers is to determine how best to provide the least energy to meet this extraordinary economic growth. Moreover the utilities should respond promptly and economically with new power capacity capital investments. The ADDC strategy in power system planning to meet the rise up in consumer demands is usually achieved by adding a new capacity, reinforcing or upgrading only the supply side structure. Furthermore ADDC at present doesn't have any control over demand side management of the load This thesis investigates the implementation of Demand Side Management (DSM) as a strategy that is practiced in different countries around the world and develops a model that integrates the proposed strategy in network planning. The finding of this study demonstrates the effect of integrating DSM during the network planning and design stages in utility companies on the network performance. The model will be based on the international experience in DSM applications with innovative modifications to account for the factors affecting network planning in a fast growing demand and high load diversity. The developed model will have a drastic change during the planning stage for future expansion in power system in Abu Dhabi. The thesis aims also at providing comprehensive computational effort to achieve a breakthrough at Abu Dhabi Distribution Company in moving from traditional planning practice to advanced techniques where DSM is able to minimize the futuristic investment. Time of Day Tariff (TOD) technique as load management program can save both electricity consumption and the peak load. The study reflects how the customer load patterns change within the 24-hour day and accordingly within the year when the TOD introduced. A quantitative approach is result on saving peak load will increase the energy efficiency in power system and modify the load pattern within the day, moreover within the year. The study illustrated the benefit achieved to ADDC as the avoided extra cost in capital investments; better utilization of the existing assets and the avoided charge for the required demand would have a great impact as an attractive resource. Similarly DSM will have a great impact for the customers in a way of reducing their electricity bill in line with managing their load usage for better and higher efficiency utilization.