Abstract
To accommodate the increasing share of intermittent renewable energy, options need to be evaluated to maintain a profitable, secure and sustainable energy supply. Besides energy efficiency (EE) as “first fuel”, adapting demand to meet the variable supply needs to be evaluated. We focus on concepts of energy efficiency and load flexibility (further: demand response; DR) and compare the two types of measures with respect to the diffusion of actions taken and possible drivers and barriers affecting uptake, we derive recommendations to promote the measures more effectively and synergistically. We analyse the results of a survey of more than 1500 service sector companies in Germany and supplement the results with research on German policies promoting energy efficiency and how these could also promote DR. We use logistic regression models to assess and compare influencing factors. Energy efficiency measures are much more prevalent than demand response measures, while most of the influencing factors for both are comparable. More information and standardisation will be needed to tap the demand response potential. We assume that the successful instruments and policies for energy efficiency could also be applied to foster demand response. Especially, instruments such as Energy Efficiency Networks could be redesigned to include demand response. The same holds for other established, effective regulatory instruments like energy audits, which could be enhanced by adding demand response. Although energy efficiency and demand response measures might counteract in specific cases, promoting DR measures can to a large extent built synergistically on existing energy efficiency policy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 111070 |
| Journal | Energy Policy |
| Volume | 137 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2020 |
Funding
- Awards or labels for companies participating in DR could make DR visible and result in public image effects and work as a driver, e.g. for their marketing. - Financial incentives like funds can promote DR-ready appliances that enable companies to participate in DR. SMEs might especially profit from funding, because they usually have smaller financial options, compared to large enterprises. - Taxes, regulations and funds already supporting the integration of renewable energy (e.g. ERP, EcoTax) could be extended to also include DR, because they aim at the same targets. 4.3 We thank the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy (BMWi) for the support of the underlying projects “Flexible Nachfrage als wichtiger Beitrag zur Energiewende und Baustein in der Energiesystemanalyse” (EnSys-FlexA) and “Analyse der Versorgungssicherheit in Süddeutschland unter Berücksichtigung der europaweiten Kopplung der Strommärkte” (AVERS). The authors would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their helpful comments and effort towards improving our manuscript. Appendix A
Keywords
- Demand response
- Drivers and barriers
- Energy efficiency
- Policies
- Service sector
