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A Review of Electrical Energy Management Techniques: Supply and Consumer Side (Industries)

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A Review of Electrical Energy Management Techniques: Supply and Consumer Side (Industries) A review of electrical energy management techniques: supply and consumer side (industries) Afua Mohamed Mohamed Tariq Khan Department of Electrical Engineering, Cape Peninsula University of Technology Abstract ment is higher than supply). A review of electrical energy management tech- • There is a lack of resources (finance, energy) niques on the supply side and demand side is pre- and EEM helps to postpone the construction a sented. The paper suggests that direct load control, new power plant. interruptible load control, and time of use (TOU) On the demand side, energy management is used are the main load management techniques used on to reduce the cost of purchasing electrical energy the supply side (SS). The supply side authorities and the associated penalties. The techniques used normally design these techniques and implement for EEM are aimed at achieving valley filling, peak them on demand side consumers. Load manage- clipping and strategic conservation of electrical sys- ment (LM) initiated on the demand side leads to tems. Al-Shakarchi & Abu-Zeid (2002); and Kissock valley filling and peak clipping. Power factor correc- & Eger (2008) presented the techniques used to tion (PFC) techniques have also been analysed and decrease the need for additional capacity and the presented. It has been observed that many power costs involved by increased fuel on the supply side. utilities, especially in developing countries, have The implementation of the techniques leads to neither developed nor implemented DSM for their improving off-peak valley-hours and the load factor electrical energy management. This paper proposes of the system. The common load management that the existing PFC techniques should be re-eval- techniques to SS or DS are presented as load shed- uated especially when loads are nonlinear. It also ding and restoring. There are also more exotic recommends automatic demand control methods to means such as power wheeling, the installation of be used on the demand side in order to acquire energy efficient processes and equipment, the use optimal energy consumption. This would lead to of energy storage devices, co-generation, use of improved reliability of the supply side and thereby renewable energy and reactive power control. reducing environmental degradation. Implementation of these techniques has found a steady increase in application and meets demand Keywords: electrical energy management, demand- side management (DSM) objectives. side management, maximum demand, power factor In this paper, we review the techniques used for correction electrical energy management carried out on the supply and demand side, and recommend the appropriate methods more suitable for industrial applications. 1. Introduction 2. Electrical energy management: Power Electrical energy management (EEM) is a topic that supply side has reached specific concern in the twenty- first cen- The power supply side executes production and tury due to its contribution to economic develop- delivery of electric power. It is also responsible for ment and environmental advancement. It has as a supplying sufficient electric power at the acceptable logical outcome and the planning of varieties of ini- standards and high level of reliability. The power tiatives that could be deployed to reduce energy utility of a vertical integrated system is normally split consumption. EEM maybe performed on the sup- into four processes namely generation, transmis- ply side (SS) or demand side (DS). sion, distribution and retailing of electric power. On the supply side, EEM is undertaken when: Electric power is a non-storable product, (unlike • There is a growing demand (demand require- water or other type of energy that the amount col- 14 Journal of Energy in Southern Africa • Vol 20 No 3 • August 2009 lected at a certain time may be stored for future use) classification of customers loads according to the and hence, the amount generated at any instant size of load. Telephone, radio signal and power line should not be higher than the amount required by were used to produce a signal that interrupted large the demand. The generated AC supply is periodi- industrial consumers. In this system, customers cally fluctuating and is a sum of consumers’ were required to reduce their electric demand to an demand e.g. residential, commercial, and industrial. emergency service load for only 10 minutes upon Demand of electricity has been increasing request. Under frequency, the relay was installed in worldwide and has caused electrical energy to the customer’s loads, which responded very fast in become a scarce resource in developing countries. the under frequency regime. The electricity generated should be utilised effi- Tools for evaluation of end-use monitoring DLC ciently to meet the demand of countries. This programs were described by Nancy et al. (1989) improves the reliability of the power supply system. namely as a duty cycle model (DCM) and demand In this regard, electrical energy management (EEM) side planning. The PC-based workstation had is the cheapest action that can support the growing proven to be a viable and cost effective means of electricity demand and allows enough time for the analysing the voluminous data used in the program. utility companies to plan for investment of new gen- The duty cycle model offered an integrated erating plans. approach to DLC impact analysis. This is given by: 2.1 Energy management techniques t = Average load 1 Energy management embodies engineering, Connected load design, applications, utilization, and to some extent, Kah-Hoe & Sheble (1998) analysed DLC by the operation and maintenance of electric power profit based load management. The algorithm that systems for the provision of the optimal use of elec- determines the number of customers to be con- trical energy without violating other international trolled was developed and considered under all standards. Load management in utility industries is possible control durations. Successive approxima- the planning and implementation of the utility activ- tion techniques were employed. The developed ities, which are designed to influence customers to model was based on the sum of controllable and use electricity in such a way, that it produces a non-controllable load, and was categorised into dif- desired change in the utility load shape. ferent customer load groups. They further conclud- ed that there is a profit margin when the control- Direct load control (DLC) lable load is scheduled. The model used to identify This is the program designed to interrupt con- controllable and non-controllable load is given as: sumers’ loads during the peak time by direct control of the utility power supply to individual appliances Tl = Cl +Nl 2 on a consumer premises. The control usually involves residential consumers. The cost benefit of Where: Cl is controllable load and Nl is non-con- DLC includes: trollable load • Power system production cost savings. Ahsan (1990) presented the impact of load • Power system generating capacity cost savings. management strategies on the reliability and pro- • Power system loss reduction. duction cost of the interconnected systems. The seg- Benergee (1998) presented DLC for agricultural mentation method was used. A model of basic pumps and commercial air conditioners. He approach for LM applicable to two interconnected defined the load management as an action that system was developed. The basic approaches con- involves analysis of variations, identification of con- sidered were the direct, indirect load control and trollable loads, selection of control options and energy storage. The study concluded that instead of implementation of strategies. Interruptible and time increasing generating capacity, a load management of use tariff was tested and found to have a useful scheme could be applied to the system as an alter- option for India’s power supply. He further studied native solution. the nature of controlled load and set the type of control option as: Load management by time dependent tariffs • Direct load control, utility can switch off the load In this method, load management is carried out by directly when required. the influence of tariffs setting. The total cost of gen- • Interruptible load control – the utility provides erating and delivering of electricity to consumers advance notice to the customer for switching off was being broken into four fundamental categories their loads. of services: • TOU tariffs, where utility rate structure is • Customer services, designed according to the time. • Distribution services, Backer (1986) introduced the DLC carried by • Transmission services, the Pacific Gas and Electric Company. He proposed • Generation services, Journal of Energy in Southern Africa • Vol 20 No 3 • August 2009 15 Integrated utilities in regulated states set the rates to programmes are most common, followed by air cover the costs of all services. conditioning and motor rebate programmes. Re- The electric consumers are billed as: bate levels vary widely, from approximately 20 – • Flat rate tariffs / two part tariff 100% of the cost depending on the price (Nadel, • Time of use tariff (TOU) 1990; Nadel & Geller, 1999). Another example is • Spot price the DSM rebate program presented by Mthombeni, In a flat rate tariff, a customer pays the same (2007). amount for electricity at any time of day. Chamberlin & Herman (1996) as well as Ashok Thermal energy storage & Benergee (2001) presented load management by It is the use of thermal energy storage to store heat TOU rates. In this method, the utility provides trans- for space or water heating during off peak period parent information on the electricity price at differ- and use at the peak time. This system is also wide- ent periods to the customers to encourage off peak ly used in air conditioners. The on- off switching of and discourage peak period consumption by vary- the storage elements was accomplished by commu- ing price of electricity. Time of use rates provide nication technology and control as voluntary load variation of the cost of energy by season or time of control. A separate meter was usually used to dis- day.
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