THE VIABILITY OF DYNAMIC PRICING IN STAND ALONE ENERGY SYSTEMS

Recent years have seen the emergence of several high profile Stand-Alone Energy Systems (SAES) in remote/isolated communities. Abundant renewable energy resources, coupled with weak or non-existent energy grid supply infrastructure, mean that such communities are often early adopters of alternative approaches towards the generation, storage and consumption of energy. One such approach which is the subject of much discussion is the ability of energy pricing to promote demand response. This paper presents a conceptual energy pricing strategy designed to promote demand response in SAES using an adapted reward table algorithm, which uses financial incentives to encourage consumer demand elasticity in order to promote demand flexibility. The results suggest that the pricing strategy presented is capable of effectively promoting demand response in the context of SAES in a way that is both socially and economically viable.