Peak shaving offers significant long-term cost benefits for industrial customers, primarily by reducing demand charges associated with high peak power consumption. Here are the key advantages:
Long-term Cost Benefits of Peak Shaving for Industrial Customers
1. Demand Charge Reduction
- Reduced Costs: By minimizing peak electricity demand, businesses can lower their demand charges, which are often based on the highest power usage during a billing period, typically measured over 15-minute intervals.
- Stability in Bills: Peak shaving helps businesses avoid fluctuations in utility costs by keeping their peak demand stable, making budget forecasting more reliable.
2. Improved Energy Efficiency
- Optimized Operations: By utilizing battery energy storage systems (BESS) or other local power sources, businesses can optimize their energy usage patterns without interrupting critical operations.
- Increased Efficiency: This optimized operation leads to more efficient use of energy resources, reducing overall energy consumption during peak times.
3. Integration with Renewable Energy
- Increased Self-Consumption: Peak shaving allows industrial customers to integrate renewable energy sources, such as solar power, more effectively. By storing excess energy from solar panels during off-peak times, businesses can power their operations during peak hours using this stored energy.
- Additional Cost Savings: This approach enhances self-consumption of renewable energy, reducing reliance on the grid during expensive peak hours and further lowering electricity bills.
4. Reduced Grid Reliance
- Supply Chain Resilience: By leveraging peak shaving strategies, industries can ensure reliable energy supply even during high-demand periods, reducing the likelihood of power outages and associated operational losses.
- Grid Stability Contribution: Peak shaving also helps stabilize the electrical grid by reducing peak flows, which can benefit other consumers in the distribution network by lowering future distribution charges.
5. Predictive Management
- AI-driven Solutions: Modern energy storage systems utilize AI-driven software to predict peak demand spikes, allowing for proactive management and optimization of energy consumption.
- Future Proofing: These predictive tools can help businesses anticipate and adapt to changing energy market conditions, ensuring ongoing cost savings and operational resilience.
Overall, the combination of demand charge reduction, increased energy efficiency, better integration with renewable energy, reduced grid reliance, and predictive management capabilities makes peak shaving a valuable long-term strategy for industrial customers.
Original article by NenPower, If reposted, please credit the source: https://nenpower.com/blog/what-are-the-long-term-cost-benefits-of-peak-shaving-for-industrial-customers/
