Assessment of the load management potential of the annual cycle energy system

Abstract

This study evaluates the load management potential of the ACES from the perspective of the electric utility. The primary objective of the study was to quantify the revenue requirements to serve an ACES-equipped house as compared with a hot water heater. Two utilities, Arkansas Power and Light Company (APL) and Duke Power Company (Duke), were selected for analysis based on climatic and utility system characteristics that appear favorable for the ACES concept. The selection criteria included five utility characteristics: load growth, reserve margin, peak season, average energy cost, and on-peak/off-peak cost differential. Four customer demographic criteria were also considered including residential growth rates, saturation of electric space conditioning, necessity for air conditioning, and ratio of heating to cooling requirement. Detailed analyses were made of generation expansion plans, system reliability, and production costs for various load growth scenarios and assumed penetrations of AECS, and the total revenue requirements were calculated for each case. The four scenarios investigated were (1) normal load growth and moderate ACES penetration; (2) normal load growth and high ACES penetration; (3) low load growth and moderate ACES penetration; and (4) low load growth and high ACES penetration. The revenue requirements developed for each of these scenarios were compared with those of a base case without any ACES involving either normal or low system load growth.