Evaluating the economic benefits of peak load shifting for building owners and grid operator

The economic benefits of load shifting are investigated in this paper. For building owners, the economic benefits are assessed from the perspective of lower connection charges, lower monthly power charge, lower capital cost, and reduced system losses. The non-financial benefit of improved power quality and reliability is also considered. For the grid operator, it is assessed from the perspective of cheaper generation costs and deferment in system upgrading costs. These benefits are derived from reducing the electrical load variability as a result of load shifting. As the electrical loads are varying constantly, the output of power plants need to be varied to meet the changing load and this reduces the efficiency. Furthermore, the capacity of the electrical power system needs to cater for the peak load, which occurs only for a short duration. Hence, reducing load variability will improve the efficiency and reduce wastage. In this study, it is found that substantial saving is obtained by shifting the top 3% peak load while carbon emission is reduced. The maximum saving obtained by the building owners and grid operator is USD 0.47 and USD 3.59 per kWh.