Demand side management for peak reduction and PV integration in Qatar

Abstract

The electricity demand in Qatar has grown more than twofold within merely a decade. Highly subsidized electricity tariffs combined with decreased government revenues has urged local authorities to reduce the energy consumption, improve the energy efficiency, and deploy environmentally friendly renewable energy alternatives. In this study, we present the role of demand-side management (DSM) techniques for energy savings and photovoltaic (PV) renewable energy integration. DSM techniques are classified into technological, economical, and social layers. The technology layer has been supported by the government while incentive/pricing based economic layer options are yet to be deployed. To pave the way for such studies, we present evidence from Bahrain's, a neighboring country with similar climate, government and social structures, new pricing policy to show the customer responsiveness on electricity prices. Moreover, we present a case study on how to use direct load control framework during summer months in Qatar. In the last section, we present the output of Qatar's first large-scale PV deployment in Education City. The results show that due to local weather conditions, large-scale PV adoption can easily affect the grid operations and a more responsive load is required to mitigate the potential impacts.