A report from Dan Cass, a strategist at the Australia Institute expounds that demand response enables energy consumers to sell “megawatts” of reduced demand into the National Electricity Market in order to maintain the stability of the grid and lessen price peaks.
According to Cass, “Respondents were asked which they thought was a better way to plan for peak demand events. Two-thirds (64 percent) supported demand response, while 28 percent supported building new grid infrastructure and power stations.”
He further stated, “This polling shows the public understands demand response is cheaper and faster and are supportive of the technology. There is a real eagerness from Australians to make money by generating, storing, and trading electricity. What is needed are smart regulations that would unleash huge benefits to the stability, efficiency of the grid, and lower prices to boot.”
There were also four out of five voters who said they are interested in taking part in various demand response methods.
The respondents were also asked if they were keen on turning off certain appliances off for at least 30 minutes during a demand peak, in return for a payment. Here are the results of the survey:
- Eighty-five percent of voters stated they would be interested in turning down the heating temperature two degrees for half an hour
- Eighty-two percent of the respondents said they would be eager in turning off appliances such as computers and televisions for at least 30 minutes
- Seventy-seven percent of the respondents said they would turn off their air conditioners for half an hour
“Demand response can deliver security faster and cheaper than building new power stations and more efficiently than prolonging the life of aging plants like Liddell. Technology has overtaken ideology.”
For the full report, click here.
