Practical Benefits of Load Modification for the Detroit Edison Company

The benefits of modification of a utility's load shape by using either load management or supply management techniques has been a topic of great interest for the last several years. Most of the previous studies regarding this topic have only looked at a "snapshot year". Thus, the effect on system expansion could never be properly determined. This paper presents the results of a study that was performed by Energy Management Associates, Inc. under the direction of the Planning Department of Detroit Edison. The study investigated a wide range of potential load shapes for the Detroit Edison system. The objective was to identify those load patterns which minimize the revenue requirement per kilowatthour at a constant level of reliability over a 15-year period. Load shapes depicting seasonal, weekly and daily load modification techniques were analyzed. The study was structured to determine gross maximum benefits without taking into account the implementation costs required to attain the various load shapes. The results of the study show that while there are benefits derived from load modification, these benefits are minimal.