Carbon dioxide pollution reduction through load shift projects

Abstract

Significant advances have been made in automation technology allowing systems to shift electricity consumption from peak periods to off-peak periods. Load shift projects have been implemented throughout South Africa for their electricity cost saving potential. This study shows how these load shift projects also reduce the carbon dioxide production at power stations by 91 kg/MWh shifted. This reduction is however not limited to load shift projects on the demand side, but also includes supply side load management. Technologies such as pumped storage schemes and carbon dioxide conversion to methane are identified as effective means of achieving supply side load management. A load shift project is shown to not only have an electricity cost saving but also an environmental cost saving. This emphasizes the need to continue implementing these projects as a method of reducing the environmental impact. Measurement and Verification (M&V) teams should therefore also report on this carbon dioxide reduction