The Need for Customer Electric Load Flexibility and the California Demand Response Potential Study

The electricity grid is transitioning from a centralized and uncoordinated set of large generators to a framework that includes decentralized and coordinated distributed energy resources. Advances in renewable generation, energy storage, efficiency, and controls technology present a significant opportunity for demand-side investment that is matched to the needs of the future grid infrastructure and operations, but the interplay of controls technology and grid operations makes estimating and realizing the potential of DER a significant challenge. Supply curves for conserved energy have been used to synthesize energy efficiency opportunities for electricity system planners, showing how demand side resources compete with power plants. An LBNL project developed a similar approach for supporting policymakers who now face a range of technology options for DER, with a focus on describing the potential for DR to provide flexibility to the grid. I describe our modeling approach using supply curves for demand response across four key dimensions: reshaping with rates, shedding at critical time, shifting to capture renewables, and fast-response "shimmy" to balance the grid. In a California-focused study, we find a significant potential for DR to support the grid, and a need for integration between DR and energy efficiency.

Speaker: Mary Ann Piette, Lawrence Berkeley National Labs