INGENIEUR
INGENIEUR
Battery room
restore a system ’ s power balance , whereas the flexibility sources respond to restore that balance .
While flexible resources are commonly found on the supply side , there is also the possibility of harvesting flexibility from the demand side ( Demand Response , DR ). Large-scale industrial processes and direct control of certain loads have been utilised for many years . Recent advances in information and communication technologies ( ICT ), together with the large-scale rollout of advanced smart meters , have created a new window of opportunity to make better use of DR to increase flexibility .
The flexibility required can be obtained by scheduling and dispatching certain loads ( either individually or as aggregation of smaller loads ) according to system needs while respecting a set of preconditions , such as comfort levels . Alternatively , price-responsive demand can be used with price signals that reflect flexibility requirements . An example of the ability of such a DR to provide flexibility is found in France , where six million domestic water heaters , equivalent to 12 GW of potential demand , are centrally controlled to modify electricity demand . Demand response flexibility from large consumers is also used in France to provide two-hour ramping reserve during critical periods .
For the future Malaysian electricity supply industry , VG resources — principally solar power plants , are set to increase significantly as part of the Government ’ s drive to promote sustainable energy for powering and lighting up the nation . However , these VG resources will bring technical challenges that require increasing the flexibility of the national power system grid . Assessing these new flexibility needs , the resources available to meet them , and system flexibility adequacy will probably emerge as one significant aspect of the system planning and business development functions of the national utility ( TNB ). There is no one-size-fits-all solution to increasing flexibility . Options that achieve the technical objective of fulfilling flexibility needs must be evaluated economically so that low-cost solutions can be offered to the customers through institutionalised market access mechanisms .
ENERGY STORAGE
Energy storage systems convert electricity into a form that can be stored and converted back into electrical energy for later use , providing energy on demand . This enables utilities , for example , to generate extra electricity during times of low
48 VOL 75 JULY-SEPTEMBER 2018