Abstract
Consumer behaviour in the energy field is playing a more important role in the new approach dominated by the proliferation of renewable energy sources. In this new context, the grid has to balance the intermittent and uncertain renewable energy generated, and find solutions, also, on the consumer side for increasing the stability and reliability of the energy system. The main de-mand response solutions are price and incentive based, but there is a need to identify the main factors which can influence their efficiency due to the fact that there is a lack of knowledge about the preferences of consumers. The main goal of this article is to identify the main demand response solutions and the related key factors which influence the participation of consumers in demand response programs and may contribute to the spread of renewable energy sources. For this research, semi-structured interviews were organised with experts in energy from Romania, Hungary and Serbia, as well as workshops with experts in energy, and an online survey with customers for electricity. This article reduces the gap between the results of technical studies, related in demand response programs, and their practical implementations, where the consumer behaviour and its social dimensions are neglected even though, in reality, they are playing the main role. The results suggest that the consumer’s participation in demand response programs is highly influenced by different aspects related to the promotion of the renewable energy and the reduction of CO2 emissions and the global warming impact.
Highlights
Renewable energy technology and the improvement of energy systems have to compete with the new framework for climate change and the desired targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases
The vast majority of respondents (53%) had the average monthly electricity consumption between 150 kWh and 300 kWh, and it is correlated with the fact that most of consumers were living in flats (68%)
This study has investigated the main factors which influence the participation of consumers in demand response (DR) programs and may contribute to the proliferation of renewable energy sources
Summary
Renewable energy technology and the improvement of energy systems have to compete with the new framework for climate change and the desired targets for reducing emissions of greenhouse gases. One solution to improve the stability of an energy system is to optimise the relation between the generation and consumption of electricity in the energy system, in other words, to optimise the relation between energy producers and consumers. In the new market context, the old rule that energy generation follows the consumption is not feasible anymore. This solution is based on demand side management, which can improve the stability and the security of an energy system even in the case of the proliferation of wind and photovoltaic power plants [1]. Demand response is defined as a change in the power consumption of a consumer to better match the demand for power with the supply of electricity. Energy efficiency aims to minimize the energy use of an operational system
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