Demand Response Impact Evaluation: A Review of Methods for Estimating the Customer Baseline Load

Ottavia Valentini, Nikoleta Andreadou, Paolo Bertoldi, Alexandre Lucas, Iolanda Saviuc and Evangelos Kotsakis
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Ottavia Valentini: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Enrico Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, Italy
Nikoleta Andreadou: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Enrico Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, Italy
Paolo Bertoldi: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Enrico Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, Italy
Alexandre Lucas: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Enrico Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, Italy
Iolanda Saviuc: Department of Engineering Management, Faculty of Business and Economics, University of Antwerp, Prinsstraat 13, 2000 Antwerp, Belgium
Evangelos Kotsakis: European Commission, Joint Research Centre, Via Enrico Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, Italy

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 14, 1-36

Abstract: Climate neutrality is one of the greatest challenges of our century, and a decarbonised energy system is a key step towards this goal. To this end, the electricity system is expected to become more interconnected, digitalised, and flexible by engaging consumers both through microgeneration and through demand side flexibility. A successful use of these flexibility tools depends widely on the evaluation of their effects, hence the definition of methods to assess and evaluate them is essential for their implementation. In order to enable a reliable assessment of the benefits from participating in demand response, it is necessary to define a reference value (“baseline”) to allow for a fair comparison. Different methodologies have been investigated, developed, and adopted for estimating the customer baseline load. The article presents a structured overview of methods for the estimating the customer baseline load, based on a review of academic literature, existing standardisation efforts, and lessons from use cases. In particular, the article describes and focuses on the different baseline methods applied in some European H2020 projects, showing the results achieved in terms of measurement accuracy and costs in real test cases. The most suitable methodology choice among the several available depends on many factors. Some of them can be the function of the Demand Response (DR) service in the system, the broader regulatory framework for DR participation in wholesale markets, or the DR providers characteristics, and this list is not exclusive. The evaluation shows that the baseline methodology choice presents a trade-off among complexity, accuracy, and cost.

Keywords: demand response; smart grids; baselines; flexibility: decarbonisation; H2020 projects (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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