by Kari Hyde – Director, Customer Energy Solutions – Pembina Institute

Demand-side management can reduce peak demand, lower system costs and help the grid keep pace with industrial expansion, data centres and electrification

Industrial expansion, data centres, population growth and electrification are putting new pressure on a system already facing affordability, reliability and infrastructure challenges. Much of the public conversation focuses on how much new electricity Alberta will need and how quickly the grid can expand to deliver it.

But Alberta has another resource that remains largely untapped: electricity demand itself.

Demand-side management, or DSM, is the planned use of customer-side resources to reduce electricity consumption, shift demand away from peak periods and improve electricity system efficiency. It includes:

• energy efficiency, which lowers the amount of electricity needed to deliver the same service
• demand response and load management provides flexibility by reducing or shifting load during peak periods or system stress 
• local distributed energy resources such as batteries, electric vehicles, rooftop solar and smart controls that can be aggregated to support local grid needs. 

In modern utility systems, DSM is planned and integrated into the system as one more tool, along with utility-scale generation and transmission expansion, to meet growing system needs while maintaining affordability.

DSM gives utilities more options before new infrastructure becomes the default answer. Together, these resources can reduce the size, timing and cost of future electricity investments.

Keep reading this blog on pembina.org

Explore related articles you won’t want to miss:

Alberta needs buildings that can withstand extreme weather

What is the difference between green premiums and brown discounts?

• 
•