Alliance for an Energy-Efficient Economy released a report titled ‘Roadmap for demand flexibility in India’ in collaboration with Autogrid. The report highlights the wide range of possibilities that Demand Response (DR) offers to effectively help electricity distribution companies (DISCOMs) in India handle their increasing future electricity demand while still operating reliably towards a greener grid. It further states that DISCOMs should carve out the ideal consumer-centric DR strategy, comprising a portfolio of customizable options.
Speaking during the report launch, Dr Satish Kumar, President, and Executive Director, AEEE, said, “It is critical to focus on flexible demand as a balancing resource and need to be included in the Integrated Resource Planning process and by enabling performance-based regulations. For this to happen at scale, consumers should be allowed to participate in the energy and ancillary markets. The time is right to leverage advanced metering infrastructure and other innovative technologies to roll out well-designed DR programs,”
According to the report by AEEE:
- Scalable DR programs can become successful if they are designed to create win-win situations for both consumers and DISCOMs.
- Leveraging the energy data collected by smart meters to segment the consumers and identify potential target consumers is a useful tactic.
- Initial interventions can be facilitated by the use of Behavioural DR measures which can be further scaled to include more advanced automation options like Flexible DR.
DR presents a leapfrog opportunity for DISCOMs to better adapt to the realities of a cleaner grid and high electrification of demand.