Incentives for Shaping the Consumption Profile of a Group of Consumers with Energy Storage Devices

The effects of increasing volatility of energy production could be mitigated by real-time shaping of the electricity consumption profile. This paper compares various strategies of an electricity retailer for controlling the consumption profile of its customers, under uncertainties in wholesale prices as well as heating demand. The economic and technical performance potential of selected forms of direct load control and dynamic pricing contracts are assessed through numerical simulations involving electric storage space heating consumers. Best potential monetary benefits were obtained by allowing direct load control and optimizing for additional flexibility, when simulating trading in the intra-day market.