The Potential for Building Emissions Reduction through Sporadic and Targeted Load Modulation

Utkarsha Agwan, Samuel Bobick, Srinath Rangan, Kameshwar Poolla, Costas Spanos

Keywords: smart grid, load flexibility, optimization

Abstract: This paper focuses on pragmatic load flexibility measures for building electricity consumers that might not be able to modulate their load continuously, and instead act through short-term and sporadic load shift and shed, e.g., by shedding load a few times a year. Through a data-driven simulation of load modulation measures, we find that there are high-value time periods which account for a disproportionate amount of emissions, and consequently, even sporadic voluntary load shift and shed can achieve reductions in $\text{CO}_2$ emissions associated with electricity consumption. We quantify the emissions reductions for different load flexibility scenarios and discuss the practical implications associated with implementing sporadic and targeted load management measures in response to marginal emissions signals.

Submission Number: 20