Load Management

Abstract

Electric power has shaped and contributed to the progress and advances of humankind over the past century. Power should be available to the customer upon demand. The power companies strive to keep the reserve capacity to meet the sudden demand to a minimum. Load management techniques help the power company to reshape the electric utility load curves and to reduce the peak demand.The US government has filed lawsuits against electrical utility plants charging the release of massive amounts of air pollutants throughout the Midwest and east coast. Electrical utilities are responsible for 65% of sulfur dioxide emissions in the United States. If the customers demand more power, the power companies would supply power by building more generation facilities. This concept of supply‐side management has been very popular in the 1970s of the twentieth century. The demand‐side management techniques influence the customers to help to reshape the load demand curves.This article analyzes the load management techniques in great detail. The power company must provide incentives to help customers to modify the load curves. The customers must change their lifestyles to help to implement the load management techniques. Load management techniques make electricity do more by using it better. The important point is that less energy is wasted. Load management techniques could force the utilities to become globally competitive and control the demand and energy consumption.