Cost gain of implementing load shifting in residential buildings

Abstract

There is a clear trend today that we use more and more appliances with a higher power demand, something that is a real challenge for the electricity grid. Also, the shift towards electrification of the transport system gives a high volatility in consumption of electricity which is reflected in the distribution grid. Traditionally, the power distribution companies reinvest in grid upgrades to handle the increase in peak load demand. However, another alternative (short/midterm) solution to this problem is creating incentives to the customers to change their consumption patterns. This thesis investigates whether it is possible to control the use of household devices in order to reduce the electricity costs, and whether this process is economically feasible for the end users. To achieve this goal, a series of different grid tariff models were tested against real consumption patterns of buildings of different types. The results show that “Observed power” and “Subscribed power” tariff models compare to other studied models induce higher financial incentive to end-users to change their consumption behavior. In addition, the use of storage units and local solar production is another alternative to further increase the flexibility in Norwegian households.