Abstract
Increasing electricity access through Microgrids
for rural areas is often faced with the challenge of increased peak
demand through increased electricity demand as more electronic
devices will be acquired by the consumers and more small
businesses will spring up in the community. If not taken care of,
this leads to additional cost of incurring higher peaker plants to
meet the peak demand, and the burden of the cost of peaker
plants are consequentially transferred to the consumers. Since
this load is generated by the consumers, it is most desirable to
control the peak demand from the consumers’ side. Therefore, a
method of Time Programmable Smart Devices (TPSD) with an
efficient Electricity Use Plan (EUP) is proposed in this paper by
introducing appliance working knowledge and improving load
shifting technique of Demand Side Management for peak
demand reduction in a rural Microgrid. This method yielded
lower morning and evening peaks, a lower peak-to-peak
difference than those available in literature, and a peak period
shift from the traditional peak period to traditional off-peak
period. These lead to financial savings, reduced cost of peaker
plants and a safer environment from less greenhouse gases
emissions.