Relevant thoughts on accelerating the utilization of demand-side resources in new power systems

China Energy Storage Network: With the accelerated construction of a new power system with new energy as the main body, it is difficult to meet the safe and efficient operation requirements of the system by only considering the use of regulation resources on the power supply side and the grid side. It is urgent to release the flexibility and regulation capabilities of demand-side resources. "Source-load interaction" will become a prominent feature of the future power system. At present, the utilization of demand-side resources in China is in the ascendant, and the utilization form has gradually evolved from a single orderly power consumption and energy efficiency management to a demand response resource with diverse functions, active participation, and market-driven. How to scientifically and rationally play the role of demand-side resources around the construction of a new power system with new energy as the main body has become the focus of the "14th Five-Year Plan" and the high-quality development of power in the medium and long term.

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The important role of demand-side resources in new power systems

(I) Alleviate the contradiction between electricity supply and demand. With the acceleration of the "new electrification" process on the demand side, especially the deep integration of the power grid and the transportation network, the difficulty of balancing the supply and demand of the power system has gradually increased, and short-term load peaks have frequently appeared. Due to the low substitution effect of wind and solar capacity, under the trend of new energy as the main source of power increase, actively playing the role of demand-side resources in electricity peak shaving and valley filling will help ensure the balance of electricity supply and demand. During the peak summer period in Guangdong in 2021, more than 300 users participated in market-based demand-side response transactions, achieving peak shaving of more than 1 million kilowatts.

(II) Promote the consumption of new energy. Wind and solar power generation "depends on the weather", and its output is highly random, volatile and intermittent. In the context of large-scale access of new energy to the power grid, relying solely on the regulation resources on the new power supply side to support the consumption of new energy will face problems such as reduced equipment utilization efficiency and increased electricity costs. The response speed of demand-side resources can reach seconds, and they have excellent regulation capabilities. For example, demand-side resources such as electric vehicles, user-side energy storage, and central HVAC can quickly respond to the ultra-short and short-cycle scale regulation needs of new energy; demand-side resources such as traditional industrial and commercial loads can actively participate in the system's intraday regulation needs based on incentives; emerging demand-side resources such as hydrogen energy are deeply coupled with new energy, which can meet the regulation needs of new energy for multiple days or longer time scales.

(III) Improve the energy efficiency level of the whole society. The energy revolution faces the "impossible triangle" problem of energy supply security, greenness and economy, and puts forward higher requirements for building a new power system with new energy as the main body. Demand-side resources are important internal resources for the system to tap its own energy-saving potential. According to the classification of energy conservation effects, it can be divided into adjustable power resources and energy conservation resources. The former replaces or reduces the investment in power supply and power grid construction through load transfer, load regulation, load interruption and other adjustment methods. The latter saves demand-side electricity and reduces energy consumption through process optimization, technology improvement, management improvement and other means.

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Future development trend of demand-side resources

(I) Demand-side resources will become one of the main regulating resources of the new power system. With the accelerated construction of the new power system, demand-side resources will gradually rise to the same status as the supply-side, and play an important role in ensuring the balance of power supply and demand and supporting the consumption of new energy. Demand-side resources have huge potential for regulation. Some traditional industrial and commercial loads will continue to be the main demand-side regulating resources in the future due to their large scale and high sensitivity to electricity prices. Emerging demand-side resources such as electric vehicles and user-side energy storage have fast response and high flexibility, and will surely play an increasingly important role. Foreign studies have shown that under the premise of great development of demand-side resource utilization technology and friendly policies, the demand response potential is about 10%-20% of the total load, and the available demand-side resources in the country will exceed 200 million kilowatts by then.

(II) Digitalization and intelligence accelerate the efficient use of demand-side resources. At present, there are continuous innovations and breakthroughs in the fields of big data, cloud computing, blockchain, and 5G communication technology. In the future, as massive demand-side resources are connected to the system, the digitalization and intelligence of demand-side resources will become an inevitable development trend. In the fields of user behavior analysis and prediction, resource potential mining, and precise response implementation, data analysis will be deepened, and intelligent applications will be strengthened in resource aggregation invitations, multi-user interaction, and source-grid-load coordination and control, providing key support for the scientific use of demand-side resources.

(III) Deep integration of multiple energy sources on the demand side. With the acceleration of the "new electrification" process, new generation energy use methods such as integrated energy, vehicle-grid interaction, microgrids, and virtual power plants are booming, and the coupling between multiple energy systems on the demand side is increasing. The boundaries between energy producers and energy consumers are gradually blurring, and the power grid, thermal grid and transportation grid are deeply integrated. Electric energy, thermal energy, hydrogen energy, etc. are converted and mutually assisted with the power system as the hub. Demand-side resources will play an important role in promoting clean energy consumption and green and low-carbon energy transformation.

(IV) The marketization of demand-side resources will be greatly improved. Demand-side resources are close to users and have natural market conditions. In the future, various types of demand-side resources will gradually transition from relying on incentive compensation to actively participating in electricity market transactions, and the willingness and ability of demand-side resources to participate in system regulation will be accelerated. By participating in trading products such as the electric energy market, ancillary service market, and capacity market, the commodity price attributes of demand-side resources in the new power system are fully reflected, and the efficiency of optimizing the allocation of demand-side resources is effectively improved.

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Suggestions on accelerating the utilization of demand-side resources

(I) Establish a long-term demand-side resource incentive mechanism. Follow the principle of fairness and rationality, establish a long-term incentive mechanism of "whoever benefits, whoever invests", cultivate the awareness of market players to participate, guide large industrial and commercial users to directly participate in demand response through the large user direct transaction model, encourage power sales companies, integrated energy service companies, etc. to assume the role of load aggregators, and promote the virtual power plant model in cities with relatively rich electric vehicle and commercial building load resources. Raise incentive funds through multiple channels to form a long-term and stable fund pool, and gradually transform incentive-based demand response from a temporary and emergency measure to a normalized adjustment method.

(II) Improve the market mechanism for demand-side resource participation. Enrich the transaction varieties of the electricity spot market, study and establish the organizational model for demand-side resource participation in the energy market, ancillary services, and capacity market, establish and improve market access mechanisms, contract management, assessment and evaluation, transaction settlement, etc., improve the demand-responsive market-based transaction supervision system, and promote the formation of a market-based transaction model with joint participation and fair competition between the supply side and the demand side.

(III) Promote technological progress in demand-side resource utilization. Vigorously develop automatic demand response technology, load aggregation technology, power saving measurement and verification technology, smart power facilities and smart load control technology, expand pilot construction and application demonstration, and support large-scale deployment of demand response. Explore "Internet +" smart power technology and organizational models. Through the extensive deployment of data collection terminals such as user information, power grid information and power generation information, break the source-grid-load-storage data barriers, integrate system operation, market transactions and user power consumption data, improve demand-side big data analysis capabilities, and realize intelligent regulation of demand-side resources. Give full play to the role of the National Electricity Demand Side Management Standardization Committee, and improve and promote the demand-side resource technology standard system.