Design and development of a smart grid business case module

Abstract

This final year project report outlines the author’s research and efforts to design and develop a flexible business case model, which highlights the cost and benefit analysis to direct load control of a smart grid system in Singapore. In recent decades it has be unquestionably clear drastic changes in weather and increase of natural disasters is the direct consequence of excessive greenhouse gas emissions resulting in the climate change phenomenon. This problem exists for all countries to solve and more specifically in the case of Singapore (where fossil fuel is heavily relied on as a resource of power generation) it is challenge that has been the forefront of many engineers research. Therefore, in this study, research has be done to prepare a business case model with the implementation of smart metering architecture which can directly control and influence power consumption habits to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and reduce peak power generation prices for both consumers and utilities. With increasing costs of installing new generation capacity, unreliable and uncontrollable load fluctuations, and increasing fuel prices have led to the desire of utility demand side management, or more specifically direct load control. This has led this project to fully design a business case model that uses air conditioning units to control the demand, using duty cycles to remotely fluctuate the demand profile to a more desirable shape. Singapore’s current grid state was analysed from which ‘Demand Response’ technology was chosen to appropriately alter and control the electricity load profile for domestic electricity customers to reduce the overall load profile peaks in demand. These reductions were analysed to highlight cost/benefits and also further work was discussed to demonstrate future progress strategy for this project.