Page 37 - Energize April 2022

NEWS

Now available in print:

Variable Generation, Flexible Demand

ereidoon Sioshansi’s book, Variable Generation, Moreover, it is becoming increasingly clear that the power
Flexible Demand discusses the effect of new sector is undergoing a paradigm shift:
Frenewable resources being added to the electricity • Traditionally the grid operators predicted demand and
generation mix on networks, showing how the grid dispatched generation to meet it.
operator’s task of balancing supply and demand in real time • As we move forward to a future where renewable
becomes more difficult. generation accounts for the bulk of supply on the
This reality became apparent in mid-Aug 2020 when network, the grid operators now have to predict variable
the California Independent System Operator (CAISO) renewable generation and adjust demand to match it.
experienced supply shortages during the critical early
evening hours when the solar output drops to nil, while the This is happening in more places as the percentage of
demand on the system was rising, the neck of the “duck renewable generation, especially solar and wind, is rapidly
curve.” increasing.
The resulting rolling blackouts on 14 and 15 August Sioshansi’s book, Variable Generation, Flexible Demand,
2020 in California are a warning to all grid operators that examines the changes in the generation mix and the ways
they need more flexible demand at their disposal during and means of developing more flexible demand, which has
extreme heat waves when demand surges and generation remained largely unexplored.
resources may be inadequate to meet it.
The book
• Examines the challenges of keeping supply and demand
in balance in systems with a growing percentage of
variable renewable generation
• Explores the inherent flexibility of demand for many
types of customer loads and how they can be aggregated
into blocks and participate in wholesale markets
• Describes promising developments including business
models to engage and empower customers to offer their
flexible demand
• Examines the remaining obstacles including regulatory,
pricing, incentives, technical and behavioural, before
flexible demand can become a major contributor to
balancing supply and demand in real time.

Variable Generation, Flexible Demand, covers 540 pages,
consists of 22 chapters, and is organised into four parts:
• Part one: Variable renewable generation
• Part two: Flexible demand
• Part three: Coupling flexible demand to variable
generation
• Part four: Implementation, business models, enabling
technologies, policies, regulation

Variable Generation, Flexible Demand can be ordered by
clicking here: https://www.elsevier.com/books/variable-
generation-flexible-demand/sioshansi/978-0-12-823810-3

For more information, contact Fereidoon Sioshansi,
Menlo Energy Economics, fpsioshansi@aol.com

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