![]() ![]() This ARENA knowledge sharing report regarding a ‘demand response’ program trial conducted by AGL, a retail power company in New South Wales, describes how ineffectively air conditioning units responded to grid operator commands to turn down the power to support the electrical grid to reduce the risk of blackouts. ![]() This event and the backup capacity required to survive it costs grid participants hundreds of thousands of dollars over minutes.Īir conditioners are one of the more power consuming as well as one of the most awkward home appliances to connect to the internet for control. Within seconds, emergency signals go out to gas power plants to quickly spin up and plug the gap before rolling blackouts topple the network. System frequency drops as that spinning mass slows towards a critical system threshold. There is no battery storage or buffer on the network beyond the collective mass of spinning turbines at the other powerplants. ![]() Suddenly, 10% of the power supply on the network evaporates but the air conditioners are all still on and hungry for electrons. The less expected bit is that as the clock nears 6pm, one of the biggest single generators in Collie, a coal power plant, trips and stops delivering power in to the grid. The electricity network operator watches as electricity consumption peaks for the day, as expected. It turns out that everyone else does that too. At 5pm, you go home and the first thing you do is to turn on the air conditioner to cool the house down after a hot day. ![]()
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