Quote:
Originally Posted by AndrewJ
Another way to reduce some of the peak loads that cause grief will be the insidious rollout of DRED ready appliances, esp AirCon.
ie reduce consumption vs ramp up for very short peaks.
Not sure yet if the legislation has got through yet
( Gary would probably know more on that )
but basically any large "consumer level" energy units would be required to be fitted with DRED ready circuitry.
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Hi Andrew,
Thanks for the post.
I'm not across the latest but I recollect there was something about it in
the press again recently.
As you are probably aware, the concept of Demand Response
Enabling Devices (DRED) has been around for a while - at least
back to around 2005 - and there is even AS/NZS 4755 which addresses it
at a technical level.
The idea being that if you install a DRED compliant appliance, such
as an air-conditioner, its operational output can be remotely controlled
by your power utility. In return they give you a rebate on the power bill.
I am aware that some of the power utilities are already offering it today.
As was the case in NSW, one of the major reasons
the cost of power had gone so high was because the organizations
responsible for poles and wires were upgrading them ("gold plating")
to withstand worse case peak demands, in particular on hot summer
days when everyone switches their air-conditioning on.
As extreme weather events and annual temperatures increased, the problem
has become worse as even more people install aircon and more people
switch them on.
Which ironically only contributes more to global warming if the energy
source the unit was plugged into was CO2 intensive.
There was the event in NSW in the past 12 months where demand was
forecast to exceed supply and so AEMO requested people limit their power
consumption and they cycled down one of the aluminium smelters.
I recollect there has been some lobbying from some of the power companies
to make AS/NZS 4755 mandatory on some new appliances - particularly
air-conditioning.
It is a concept akin to the energy-star concept for appliances like laser
printers that was mandated in the U.S. at least back to 2001 when
George W Bush signed an executive order. The printer would typically
save power by switching itself into a standby mode when not in use,
drawing, say, less than a watt.
When your building appliances like that (I designed laser printer controllers
in the 80's and 90's), for global markets, the result is that when one
jurisdiction in the world sets a benchmark like that, then the rest of the
world benefits. You don't go designing energy-saving printers just for the
US and less power efficient ones for elsewhere. Economies of scale dictate
you build a single model.
With air-conditioning and AS/NZS 4755 I believe it may offer various
operational modes. On a hot summer day they wouldn't just power it
off so you would be without it, but put it into lower power modes.
Your room temperature would obviously go up but the rationale was
that is a better scenario than everyone creating a blackout and
being without any power or comfort.
I was aware that those power companies lobbying for mandatory DRED
capability were taking a softly-softly approach. They were saying that
they did not want to force their customers to signing up to have their
appliances remotely tuned-down via DRED, only that all new air-conditioners
should come with the capability.
If you know any more, I'd be interested to learn.
