Energy demand and supply

[Besoeker]

Maybe not the right forum and, if not, the mods might move it.

We have an ever increasing demand on our electrical energy demands. In the past few years, that has levelled out a bit because of the economic climate but I have little doubt that inexorable rise will continue as and when we climb out of recession. I had looked this in a UK context. Nuclear power stations are being decommissioned and little has been done to make up the shortfall in generating capacity.

This article, from about five years ago, was on the front page of one of the mags I get.

At home our supply has been reliable in the six years we have been here. What I have noticed is that outages elsewhere have been more prolonged. There have been a few in London that made newspaper headlines. In the past, when there was a major problem in say a switching compound, spare capacity from elsewhere could be routed to get consumers back on line fairly quickly. From what I can gather, that spare capacity just isn't spare any more.

I can only see the situation getting worse both here and in other countries.
How bad?

http://www.foxnews.com/world/2012/07/30/370-million-swelter-in-darkness-after-power-fails-in-india/?test=latestnews#ixzz228V2frpB

 

[T.M.Haja Sahib]

The answer is already there: Energy conservation.
It used to be thought the economic progress of a country is measured by per capita consumption of electricity. Greater it is, greater is the economic progress of the country. It is no more true. With active energy conservation, the per capita energy consumption can be lower but still the country is wealthier with more abundant energy supply available.

 

[Besoeker]

The answer is already there: Energy conservation.
It used to be thought the economic progress of a country is measured by per capita consumption of electricity. Greater it is, greater is the economic progress of the country. It is no more true. With active energy conservation, the per capita energy consumption can be lower but still the country is wealthier with more abundant energy supply available.

We are already doing quite a lot to reduce energy consumption. Foe many years we have been fitting variable speed drives for fan and pump applications for that purpose. This isn't our customers being altruistic. Reducing energy consumption reduces their operating costs.
At home we, like many others, use low energy lighting, our television consumes less than 1W on standby, the monitor I'm using is LED energy star compliant, and in general we are not profligate with our energy usage. Yet, as the incident in India (loss of power to 370 million people) shows, we can and do have situations where supply does not meet demand.

 

[ActionDave]

The answer is already there: Energy conservation.
It used to be thought the economic progress of a country is measured by per capita consumption of electricity. Greater it is, greater is the economic progress of the country. It is no more true. With active energy conservation, the per capita energy consumption can be lower but still the country is wealthier with more abundant energy supply available.

No.

 

[T.M.Haja Sahib]

I think the US has started to take some initiatives ( I am not sure what) towards reducing per capita electricity consumption without reducing comfort levels by active energy conservation measures.

 

[fmtjfw]

The incentives have changed

The incentives have changed

Part of the problem in the US is the change in the way public utilities are regulated. In the past the profit they were allowed to make was based on their investment in equipment (rate of return, like Germany's sell back rate for PV power). To some extent this was an incentive to make prudent investment and to maintain the equipment, lines, etc.

Now they are treated more like normal corporations with the profit simply the difference between what they spend and what they take in. That, coupled with the plague of MBAs as managers who can only think in dollar signs, has caused them to scrimp on investment and maintenance in order to deliver short-term profits.

In most instances generation has become the profit center, with transmission and distribution being cost centers.

This is an oversimplification and my own humble opinion.

In my state the power companies in the northern half have recently been bought out by another holding company. The buying company stripped the line trucks of computers that had automated maps and trouble ticket systems and replaced them with rolls of paper maps, trucked out local stocks of poles, transformers, etc., and took away trailer mounted emergency substations.

 

[robbietan]

Energy conservation?

No.

I agree wholeheartedly. I would rather use "energy efficiency" than the very outdated, impractical "energy conservation"

 

[robbietan]

Part of the problem in the US is the change in the way public utilities are regulated. In the past the profit they were allowed to make was based on their investment in equipment (rate of return, like Germany's sell back rate for PV power). To some extent this was an incentive to make prudent investment and to maintain the equipment, lines, etc.

Now they are treated more like normal corporations with the profit simply the difference between what they spend and what they take in. That, coupled with the plague of MBAs as managers who can only think in dollar signs, has caused them to scrimp on investment and maintenance in order to deliver short-term profits.

In most instances generation has become the profit center, with transmission and distribution being cost centers.

This is an oversimplification and my own humble opinion.

In my state the power companies in the northern half have recently been bought out by another holding company. The buying company stripped the line trucks of computers that had automated maps and trouble ticket systems and replaced them with rolls of paper maps, trucked out local stocks of poles, transformers, etc., and took away trailer mounted emergency substations.

its different here in my neck of the woods. rates are determined not by capex alone but also by performance - how long power interruptions are, how many interruptions per year; as well as adhering to power quality standards (voltage plus minus 10%, etc). provide a "good circuit performance" and you get better rates. altho generation is still the profit centers, distribution and transmission can still profit.

the downside here is that transmission and distribution is capped with a 15% max on profits. generation rates are unregulated