Integrating Load Management into Utility Planning

Electric load management is the concept of altering the pattern of the customer's electricity use "behind-the-meter." The scope of load management is the planning, developifent and implementatioh of programs whose objective is to actively shape the daily and seasonal electric load profiles of customers to resilt in better ovetall system utilization, lower overall costs and maintained financial stability. This paper describes the integration of Load Management into the utility planning process and is based on a panel held at the 1984 Winter Power Meeting. Clark W. Gellings Electric Power Research Institute The Planning Process The planning process in an electric utility can be described as generally involving the Energy Forecast, yielding an Expansion Plan with associated Financial Impact anA resulting in Construction Programs. Enter Load Mahagement Demand-side activities such as load management and conservation can be integrated into the planning process in several distinct ways. These can be generally groiiped into two dategories. The first is one which generally incorporates load management into the Energy Forecast. In this method it is as'sumed that the decision to be involved with.a particular demand-side activity is made independently of the, basic planning process. The basis for this abproach is other studies, review, management judgement, or regulatory body decree to be involved. In this case, the forecast is made of business as usual withbut regard to utility intervention in the marketplace. Subsequent forecasts are made of each planned demand-side activity. This subsequent forecast should reflect combination programs. Independent studies are then made. In these studies, the planner begins by reviewing a capacity plan as currently envisioneA. This review will reveal potential load shape modificatibns which should help utilities direct their analysis. In this case, technologies and options are reviewed and most likely candidates seiected. This method is illustrated in the figure. A marketing and implementation plan including projected incentives is then developed which would yield 85 WM 032-8 A paper recommended and approvYed by the IEEE Power System Engineering Committee of the IEEE Power Engineering Society for presentation at the IEEE/PES 1985 Winter Meeting, New York, hew York, February 38, 1985. Manuscript submitted September 24, 1984; made available for printing November 19, 1984. the desirable load shape change. The magnitude ot the incentives and the resultant, customer acceptance and response is based on a preliminary estimate of impact and forecasts of behavior. Subsequently a more detailed load shape can be forecasted, production costs evaluated and the overall incentive structure reviewed. Once this process has been sufficiently iterated, then a load management plan can be tormulated. It is evident that detailed planning as is required in load management cannot proceed in a vacuum but must go forward in cohicert with many corporate disciplines'. To facilitate such planning of load management, a load management planning cycle of some type can be used. An example is described by the sequence below: