Large Electricity Consumers Research Articles

Space Solar Power- An Option for the Future

In the movie "Apollo 13" the engineers had a discussion on howto get the astronauts home safely. A number of suggestions were madeand they began to debate the options. One engineer stopped the conver-sation, and said: "Power is everything."None of the options was possible without power.Our energy resources are indeed finite, on a much larger scale ofcourse, but they must be managed. Today, more than 40% of the earth'sfive billion people are not connected to electric power grids. Althoughthe United States' more than 250 million citizens, along with other in-dustrialized nations , are the largest consumers of electricity, ourconsumption grows by only 1.4% per year. The rest of the world is in-creasing consumption by 2.5% per year.The US Department of Energy has estimated that by the year 2015,the consumption of electricity in developing countries (80% of theworld's population) will equal that of industrialized nations. Buildingmore power plants that burn nonrenewable fuels has environmentalimpacts and nuclear energy receives significant oppos ition from thegeneral public. No one energy source will satisfy this demand, so Iwould like to introduce to you an option that to the best of my knowl-edge has not been discussed in this or any AEE publication, that is SpaceSolar Power (SSP).

Analysis of the impact of epidemic situation on total electricity consumption of the United States under the prediction scenario

The outbreak of COVID-19 epidemic has led to a decline in electricity consumption in the United States, the world’s second largest consumer of electricity. Based on the monthly data of the United States from August 2015 to July 2020, this paper uses the ARIMA model and the ARIMA-BP model to forecast the power consumption of the United States in the next 17 months. The Mean Absolute Percentage Error (MAPE) is 5.6% and 4.5% respectively. It shows that the prediction results have high reliability. The results of prediction research will provide a scientific basis for the normal adjustment of electricity supply and demand in the United States, and the method used in this study can be used as a reference for the study of electricity consumption in other countries.

Ex Post Evaluation of Large Electricity Consumer Policy Measures

Abstract All European Union (EU) member states till 2020 had an obligatory target for energy efficiency. One of instruments for countries to achieve national energy efficiency goals is obligation for large companies (LC) and large electricity consumers (LEC) to implement certified energy management system or perform energy audit. In this study the Latvian case study of obligation for LC and LEC where examined. The analysis was carried out using a theory-based policy analysis method combined with evaluation criteria from the EU legislative assessment guidelines The Better Regulation Agenda – efficiency, effectiveness, relevance, coherence, added value, validity, complementarity, coordination, equality, sustainability and acceptability. To evaluate energy efficiency policy measures, it is also important to understand energy efficiency measures that will realistically meet the set company and national targets. AHP and TOPSIS analyzes were performed to evaluate these measures not only from energy efficiency but also from environmental, climate, engineering-technical, economic, and social aspects. The results allow us to assess the fate of existing policies and to draw conclusions on the improvements needed to meet energy efficiency and climate goals in the future.

ПОСТРОЕНИЕ МОЩНЫХ ШИРОКОПОЛОСНЫХ УСИЛИТЕЛЕЙ ПОСТОЯННОГО ТОКА МОДУЛЯЦИОННОГО ТРАКТА ПЕРЕДАТЧИКОВ С РАЗДЕЛЬНЫМ УСИЛЕНИЕМ СОСТАВЛЯЮЩИХ

Increasing transmission path efficiency, as the largest consumer of electricity, is relevant for any wireless communication devices, digital television, and radio broadcasting. A number of methods are used to improve efficiency, including Envelope Tracking (ET) and Envelope Elimination and Restoration (EER, or Kahn method). Increasing the bandwidth of used frequencies in 5G radio systems requires expanding the modulation path DC amplifiers bandwidth to 250…500 MHz or more. The possibility of using amplifiers with input signal quantization (AISQ) as an alternative to the most common broadband hybrid modulators combining linear and switching (with PWM) amplification channels is considered. It is shown that in order to obtain AISQ high energy characteristics, it is advisable to perform, according to the scheme with output channels parallel connection, the switching of the amplifying cells along the input circuits and to reduce the saturation voltage on the output transistors. An approach has been developed for the AISQ characteristics optimizing according to the criterion of minimum losses. The example of AISQ parameters optimization and its energy characteristics calculation for a linearly increasing signal showed that, compared with a class B amplifier (n = 1), already with three-level quantization, the loss power in the AISQ decreases by 2...2.5 times (depending on the residual transistor voltage). A further increase in n leads to a less sharp decrease in the relative loss power, which, with the obvious complication of the circuitry implementation of such AISQ, makes the use of three-four-level quantization the most expedient. With these parameters, the AISQ becomes competitive with hybrid modulators and does not create electromagnetic interference from the PWM path.

Implementation of "Intellectual networks" – direction of ensuring the energy efficiency of the national economy of Ukraine

At the present stage of development of the world economy and almost all countries’ national economies, the problem of energy saving and energy efficiency rises. In developed countries, the solution to this problem depends not only on reducing energy consumption but also on the introduction of new innovative processes in power supply systems and energy systems. In particular, there is a growing interest in the modernization of energy systems in the world in recent years based on a new concept called Smart Grid ("intelligent power system"). The problem of energy efficiency is especially relevant for Ukraine, which has the highest value of energy intensity of gross domestic product, and the country's energy system is characterized by extremely high losses of electricity in the grid. The largest consumers of electricity in Ukraine are large industrial enterprises, where the high energy intensity of production is caused by the depreciation of fixed assets; lack of incentives to implement energy efficiency measures and of a systematic approach to energy consumption; lack of financial resources for the implementation of energy efficiency measures. Issues of identifying the problems of energy efficiency of the economy and ways to solve them are set out in the scientific works of such researchers as S. M. Baliuta, O. S. Bykonia, A. Yu. Danilkova, Ya. V. Krutohorskyi, O. O. Liakhova, Yu. T. Matvieieva, H. H. Pivniak, S. V. Sapozhnikov, O. V. Fedirets, V. O. Shvedun. Without diminishing the results of the previous research, it should be noted that a number of problematic issues on this topic are still studied insufficiently, which determines the relevance of the research topic. The aim of this research is to assess energy efficiency as a factor of the competitiveness of Ukraine's industrial products, justify the main reasons for the high energy intensity of GDP in Ukraine, and the necessity of innovative direction for the future development of energy through the implementation of "smart grids". Analysis of the energy sector’s current state and development has shown that the problems in the power industry today can not be solved only by extensive capacity-building of grids and increasing the number of electrical equipment. A new direction in the future development of energy is the implementation of smart grids ("Smart Grid"). The domestic national economy has problems with energy efficiency and energy saving. The solution to these problems lies in the field of implementing energy management and audit, studying and using foreign experience in the development of intelligent energy.

Energy Storage: Improving system reliability, deferring network upgrading, taking advantage of markets, and beyond

In this article, we discuss how energy storage (behind the meter or otherwise) improves the performance of industrial and public distribution systems in various ways. We focus on large industrial or commercial electricity consumers and the corresponding supplying utility. Note that this article does not represent any guidance, policy, or preference from any specific electric utility [i.e., American Electric Power (AEP)].

Comments: Oil Demand Optimism

Forecasts for oil demand are looking up, according to OPEC and the International Energy Agency as of mid-July. Will the optimistic views prove to be on target? We have learned how the market can shift or wildly careen, both historically and in the very recent past. Looking at the forecasts, which reflect a consensus of sorts, is encouraging for producers. OPEC’s monthly report of 15 July projected global oil demand to reach nearly 100 million B/D next year, a level similar to pre-pandemic in 2019. The 2021 oil demand growth remains unchanged at 5.95 million B/D, or approximately 6.6%. Led by demand growth in the US, China, and India, a 3.4% increase is expected in 2022 to 99.86 million B/D and would average more than 100 million B/D in the second half of the year. “Solid expectations exist for global economic growth in 2022,” OPEC said. “These include improved containment of COVID-19, particularly in emerging and developing countries, which are forecast to spur oil demand to reach pre-pandemic levels in 2022.” If the actual recovery tracks with these predictions, OPEC can dial back further its record-level supply cuts made in 2020. The IEA points to the growth expected in global electricity demand as spurring fossil-fuel demand, including oil, coal, and natural gas. After falling by around 1% in 2020, electricity demand growth may approach 5% in 2021 and 4% in 2022. The Asia Pacific region will account for the majority of the increases. China, the world’s largest consumer of electricity, leads the tally, accounting for more than 50% of the 2022 growth. India, the third largest, will account for 9% of the global electricity growth. Renewables are expected to be able to serve around half of the projected growth in global demand in 2021 and 2022. IEA wrote, “Renewable electricity generation continues to grow strongly—but cannot keep up with increasing demand. After expanding by 7% in 2020, electricity generation from renewables is forecast to increase by 8% in 2021 and by more than 6% in 2022.” Fossil fuel-based electricity is set to cover 45% of additional demand in 2021 and 40% in 2022. After declining by 4.6% in 2020, coal-fired electricity generation will increase by nearly 5% in 2021, exceeding pre-pandemic levels. In 2022, it will grow another 3% and could reach an all-time high. Natural gas-generated electricity lags coal because it is less commonly used in the Asia Pacific and competes with renewables in the US and Europe. It is expected to increase globally by 1% in 2021 and by nearly 2% in 2022 after declining by 2% in 2020. The US Energy Information Administration published a global financial review last month of 91 oil and gas companies, most headquartered in the US, in the first quarter 2021. It indicated that companies are implementing their plans announced over the past year to reduce capital expenditures to pay down debt. Capital expenditure in 1Q2021 was reported as $48 billion, 28% lower than in 1Q2020 and the second- lowest amount for any quarter since 2016. Cash from operations in Q1 this year totaled $79 billion, 19% higher than in 1Q2020; about 76% of companies had positive free cash flow. Overall, the companies decreased debt by $16 billion in 1Q2021, and the long-term debt-to-equity ratio decreased to 54%.

Thermodynamic and environmental analysis of solar-driven supercritical water gasification of algae for ammonia synthesis and power production

A novel system of solar-driven supercritical water gasification (SCWG) of microalgae for ammonia synthesis and power production was proposed to achieve chemical hydrogen storage with ammonia carrier. The system units mainly include SCWG, ammonia synthesis in supercritical water (SCW), power generation by supercritical water mixing fluid, organic Rankine circulating power generation, gas separation and circulating compression, and steam methane reforming. The system design and process simulation were implemented using Aspen plus. The thermodynamic performance of the system was analyzed. The life cycle environmental impact was evaluated with Simapro software. The results of thermodynamic analysis revealed that the energy efficiency, exergy efficiency, and energy consumption per ton of ammonia of the system were closely related to the microalgae concentration designed for the system. The simulation results presented the highest energy efficiency of 42.62% and exergy efficiency of 44.27% with the lowest energy consumption per ton of ammonia of 48.79 GJ/t. The circulating gas compressor was the largest electricity consumer and the heat loss of the coolers was the main reason for the energy loss of the system, indicating the direction of system optimization in the future. The evaluation of the life cycle environmental impact assessment showed that the plant operation stage contributed little to the overall environmental impact compared with the construction and dismantling stage. The values of the main midpoint indicator global warming potential (GWP) and endpoint indicator Human health could be as low as 0.69 kg CO2-eq·kg−1 NH3 and 8.17 × 10−5, respectively, under suitable design conditions. Compared with other ammonia synthesis routes, this work has great advantages in terms of thermodynamics and environmental impact, while it faces both opportunities and challenges. This research reveals the feasibility of SCWG of algae for ammonia synthesis and provides theoretical guidance for biomass cleaning conversion.

A life-cycle theory analysis of French household electricity demand

This paper develops a pseudo-panel approach to examine household electricity demand behavior through the household life cycle and its response to income variations to help strengthen the energy policy-making process. Our empirical methodology is based on three rich independent microdata surveys (the National Housing Surveys), which are representative of the French housing sector. The resulted sample covers the 2006–2016 period. Using within estimations, this paper finds striking evidence that the income elasticity of French residential electricity demand is 0.22, averaged over our four cohorts of generations. In light of other works, our estimate stands in the lower range. The empirical results also show that residential electricity consumption follows an inverted U-shaped distribution as a function of the age of the household’s head. Most notably, it appears that households at the mid-point of their life cycle are relatively the largest consumers of electricity. This outcome has important implications for policy-making. Any public policy aimed at reducing household energy consumption should consider this differentiation in consumption according to the position of households over the life cycle, and therefore target as priority households at the highest level of consumption.

A Life-Cycle Theory Analysis of French Household Electricity Demand

This paper develops a pseudo-panel approach to examine household electricity demand behavior through the household life cycle and its response to income variations to help strengthen the energy policy-making process. Our empirical methodology is based on three rich independent microdata surveys (the National Housing Surveys), which are representative of the French housing sector. The resulted sample covers the 2006-2016 period. Using within estimations, this paper finds striking evidence that the income elasticity of French residential electricity demand is 0.22, averaged over our four cohorts of generations. In light of other works, our estimate stands in the lower range. The empirical results also show that residential electricity consumption follows an inverted U-shaped distribution as a function of the age of the household's head. Most notably, it appears that households at the mid-point of their life cycle are relatively the largest consumers of electricity. This outcome has important implications for policy-making. Any public policy aimed at reducing household energy consumption should consider this differentiation in consumption according to the position of households over the life cycle, and therefore target as priority households at the highest level of consumption.

A Life-Cycle Analysis of French Household Electricity Demand

This paper develops a pseudo-panel approach to examine household electricity demand behaviour through the household life cycle and its response to income variations to help strengthen the energy policy-making process. Our empirical methodology is based on three rich independent microdata surveys (the National Housing Surveys), which are representative of the French housing sector. The resulted sample covers the 2006-2016 period. Using within estimations, this paper finds striking evidence that the income elasticity of French residential electricity demand is 0.22, averaged over our four cohorts of generations. In light of other works, our estimate stands in the lower range. The empirical results also show that residential electricity consumption follows an inverted U-shaped distribution as a function of the age of the household's head. Most notably, it appears that households at the mid-point of their life cycle are relatively the largest consumers of electricity. This outcome has important implications for policy-making. Any public policy aimed at reducing household energy consumption should consider this differentiation in consumption according to the position of households over the life cycle, and therefore target as priority households at the highest level of consumption.

Stochastic short-term integrated electricity procurement and production scheduling for a large consumer

This paper addresses the problem faced by large electricity consumers to simultaneously determine the optimal day-ahead electricity procurement and the optimal energy-aware production schedule. The inherent uncertainty of the problem, due to the bidding process in the day-ahead market, is dealt with by means of the stochastic programming modeling framework. In particular, a two-stage problem is formulated with the aim of establishing the optimal bidding strategy and the optimal production schedule hedging against price uncertainty. The optimal integrated solution is defined to minimize the overall cost and to control the risk of high cost scenarios due to uncertain price peaks. The stochastic model is solved with a scenario-decomposition approach. Extensive numerical experiments have been carried out to assess the performance of the proposed decision approach. The results collected when considering an industrial relevant case-study show the superiority of the proposed methodology in comparison with a deterministic approach.

Daylight optimization through architectural aspects in an office building atrium in Tehran

Daylight is often considered an effective resource for saving energy and optical comfort in a building. People at workplaces expect appropriate daylight. The quality and amount of the light that enters a building depends on the internal and external features of the structure. Offices in Tehran are in abundance and are among the largest consumers of electricity. Thus, proper office design and suitable lighting can positively affect the financial situation and health of the employees. Placing an atrium in the center of the open offices, Kaveh Glass Office Building in Tehran features a comfortable atmosphere. Accordingly, this paper is focusing on assessing the daylight in this office building through changing the atrium structure. The atrium is a key component of a sustainable environmental approach to architectural design. The most crucial aspects of designing a building in a warm climate are solar irradiance and wind flow, and atrium defined as an element to control and benefit from them. Changing the architectural aspect of atrium had a crucial effect on the illuminance. This study was an attempt to obtain the optimum illuminance by validation and simulation of the illuminance data using such outputs as daylight autonomy (DA) or useful daylight illuminance (UDI) at different ratios of atrium height (H), width (W), and Length (L). When the well index is approximately 1 and the width to height ratio is approximately 0.5 in this building, the result is the maximum UDI and DLA.

Impact of the chlorine value chain on the demand response potential of the chloralkali process

Renewable sources of energy supply an increasing share to the electricity mix although they show much more fluctuations than conventional energy sources. Hence, net stability and availability represent very large challenges. Demand response can positively contribute to the solution of this issue as large electricity consumers adapt their consumption to the available electricity. In the past, chloralkali electrolysis has been suggested as such a large consumer. Unfortunately, its main product, chlorine, cannot be easily stored in large amounts, so that downstream processes have to operate based on a fluctuating feed. This work reviews the processes within the chlorine value chain, determines the most promising ones for flexibilisation based on their chlorine consumption, and analyses these processes in more detail to assign them to one of four flexibility categories. It is shown that 45% of the theoretical potential could be used for demand response right away.

Clock Auction Inspired Privacy Preserving Emergency Demand Response in Colocation Data Centers

Data centers are key participants in emergency demand response (EDR), where the grid coordinates large electricity consumers for reducing their consumption during emergency situations to prevent major economic losses. While existing literature concentrates on owner-operated data centers (e.g., Google), this work studies EDR in multi-tenant colocation data centers (e.g., Equinix) where servers are owned and managed by individual tenants and which are better targets of EDR. Existing EDR mechanisms incentivize tenants energy reduction. Such designs can either be gamed by strategic tenants or untrustworthy colocation operators for illegal gains. These serious privacy concerns stand as barrier preventing the tenants' participation in EDR. This paper addresses such concerns by proposing a privacy-preserving and strategy-proof mechanism using the descending clock auction. Privacy is protected by implementing homomorphic encryption for aggregation through the clock auction, where operator can only know the aggregate of the tenants' values or bids but not their individual private values or confidential information submitted to meet the EDR. We evaluate the privacy and performance of this scheme by formulating descending clock auction, in which the amount of energy/price the tenants are willing to reduce for a given price/energy to meet EDR is protected.

Optimization Framework to Assess the Demand Response Capacity of a Water Distribution System

AbstractAs large electricity consumers, water distribution system (WDS) pumping stations have the potential to become meaningful participants in demand response (DR) programs. The authors propose a...

PRICE-BASED DEMAND-SIDE MANAGEMENT MODEL FOR INDUSTRIAL AND LARGE ELECTRICITY CONSUMERS

This article discusses a price-based demand-side management model for industrial and large power consumers. We have analyzed various factors affecting the improvement of energy efficiency on a national scale as well as at the level of select enterprises and large electricity consumers and have concluded that demand-side management is one the key areas of increasing energy efficiency, with the price-based consumption as its core element. Using the Russian electricity market as a model example, this article investigates the formation of all cost components of the ultimate power price – electricity, capacity and transmission services. Based on the results of the power cost component analysis, the article concludes that the price-based demand-side management can be applied to all price components and identifies areas and hours for optimal demand-side management in order to minimize the purchase price of electricity, while maintaining the aggregate demand. Based on the identified specifics, we have developed a price-based demand-side management model for industrial and large electricity consumers, taking into account the factors that limit the required management of the demand. The suggested model can be adapted for retail and wholesale electricity customers alike. Given that the Russian electricity market is largely similar to other power markets, such as Nord Pool, EPEX, Powernext, PJM, New England ISO, etc., the suggested management methods can be adapted for application in other countries. The article also discusses a communication strategy for the suggested model. The results of this research have high theoretical and practical importance and can be used in power purchase-related activities of industrial and other large consumers in any country where the electricity is priced according to market principles.

Benchmarking of Industrial Energy Efficiency. Outcomes of an Energy Audit Policy Program

Latvia’s industrial energy efficiency policy imposes the implementation of mandatory energy audits and energy management systems in large industrial enterprises and large industrial electricity consumers to improve industrial competitiveness, to move towards a carbon-neutral economy and to increase the security of supply. Companies affected by this energy efficiency policy are obliged to report to the national energy efficiency monitoring system on energy efficiency measures indicated in energy audits or energy management systems with the highest savings or economical potential. The purpose of this study was to assess the initial outcomes of the first industrial energy efficiency program in Latvia, using data from the national energy efficiency monitoring system, including an analysis of individual energy audit reports, and benchmarking it with findings from a similar program, thereby revealing untapped energy efficiency and CO2 emission reduction potential. Although the national monitoring system made it possible to ascertain results of the energy efficiency program, the statistical analysis of the data did not allow for a robust conclusion on the technical or economic industrial energy efficiency potential. This study suggests that Latvia’s energy efficient policy should continue its course in implementation and provides recommendations for improvements on the national energy efficiency monitoring system.

Factors influencing China’s non-residential power consumption: Estimation using the Kaya–LMDI methods

Electric power plays an important role in the economic development of a nation and in improving human life. Since China is the world’s largest electricity consumer, an understanding of the factors influencing the growth in the consumption of electricity would help Chinese leaders design appropriate energy savings strategies and economic policies. Using the Logarithmic Mean Divisia Index (LMDI) method based on the Kaya identity, this study takes China’s non-residential power consumption from 2007 to 2016 as its research subject and decomposes the influencing factors into population size, economic development, regional economic structure, regional industrial structure, and electricity consumption intensity. We find that economic growth is the main factor influencing the growth of non-residential power consumption, mostly in the eastern region; moreover, the increased intensity of power consumption inhibits the growth of non-residential power consumption, with the suppression effect being more significant in the secondary industry. Population growth plays a small role in promoting electricity consumption. Regional economic structure has a negative effect on power consumption, showing a significant difference between provinces. From these results, regional differences and industrial structure are factors to be considered for the development and management of electricity. Therefore, technological innovation and management need to be strengthened, with focus on industrial structure adjustment and promotion of energy conservation technology in the central and western regions.

Factors Influencing Solar Photovoltaic Utilization for Energy Services among Residentials in Akure, Nigeria

Aims: Residential sector is the largest electricity consumer in Nigeria. But they also contribute heavily to the climate change through their choice of energy. Mostly prefer source is the fossil fuel for electricity generation despite the growing awareness of the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by embracing renewable energy technologies across the globe. Hence, this study investigated the factors influencing solar PV utilization in Akure.
 Study Design: The study employed a survey research design.
 Place and Duration of Study: Three residential estates in Akure, Ondo State, Nigeria formed the study areas. The study was conducted between June 2019 and July 2019.
 Methodology: The study surveyed 292 households located in the three residential estates in Akure, Ondo State and 219 retrieved questionnaire were found usable for the analysis. Data was analysed using the mean ranking of the influencing factors.
 Results: The results revealed that the highest ranking factor influencing utilization of Solar PV for energy services is that Solar PV is a good backup against power failure. This is as a result of the erratic power supply in Nigeria which has not only failed to meet the need of household but also hampered economic growth. However, the least ranking factor influencing solar PV utilization for energy services is Ability to sell electricity to the national grid.
 Conclusion: Cooperation between private enterprises and relevant government agencies supported by ‘political will’ is required to promote the aforementioned factors influencing the solar PV utilization for energy services in Nigeria. Utilization of solar PV as an energy source for energy service ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy for all. The research recommended that government support for solar PV intervention should be further encouraged.