Key Factors Which Contribute to the Participation of Consumers in Demand Response Programs and Enable the Proliferation of Renewable Energy Sources

Consumer behaviour in the energy field is playing a more important role in the new approach dominated by the proliferation of renewable energy sources. In this new context, the grid has to balance the intermittent and uncertain renewable energy generated, and find solutions, also, on the consumer side for increasing the stability and reliability of the energy system. The main de-mand response solutions are price and incentive based, but there is a need to identify the main factors which can influence their efficiency due to the fact that there is a lack of knowledge about the preferences of consumers. The main goal of this article is to identify the main demand response solutions and the related key factors which influence the participation of consumers in demand response programs and may contribute to the spread of renewable energy sources. For this research, semi-structured interviews were organised with experts in energy from Romania, Hungary and Serbia, as well as workshops with experts in energy, and an online survey with customers for electricity. This article reduces the gap between the results of technical studies, related in demand response programs, and their practical implementations, where the consumer behaviour and its social dimensions are neglected even though, in reality, they are playing the main role. The results suggest that the consumer’s participation in demand response programs is highly influenced by different aspects related to the promotion of the renewable energy and the reduction of CO2 emissions and the global warming impact.