Tuesday 3 February 2015

Is the double peak evidence of effective UK demand management?

Today for the first time I noticed that electricity demand peaked twice - at 1730 and again at 1845 ( 2nd Feb 2015).
Both peaks were 52.4 GW, with a "trough" of 51.7 GW at 1830.
Furthermore, demand was almost flat for a full twenty minutes from 1730 to 1750
Why am I telling you this geeky fact?
It looks as though the reason for this is demand response kicking in.
Industrial users anticipate high "Triad" charges which can occur without warning on days of very high peak demand in February .





Here is a screenshot from Stephen Morley's excellent realtime National Grid  site for 2nd and 3rd Feb

The double peak is clearly visible.

It shows that demand response works!

I wonder what the peak would have been without it?

Let's all do what we can with our own domestic consumption to pull the peak right down to the 1500 and 2000 figure of around 47GW by this time next year!

Happy demand side responding!