Agricultural demand response for decarbonizing the electricity grid

Journal Article · Thu Feb 21 00:00:00 EST 2019 · Journal of Cleaner Production

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2019.02.207· OSTI ID:1508068

Aghajanzadeh, Arian ^[1]; Therkelsen, Peter ^[1]

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1. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)

Historically, the focus of the agricultural industry has been increasing profit through maximizing crop yield. Costs for energy and water are small compared to equipment and personnel, and are thus often overlooked. However, energy costs for irrigation are increasing and could be exacerbated with declining water levels in many Western states. This trend has motivated many farmers to explore sustainable irrigation water and energy management practices. Additionally, much of this new focus has been directed towards the adoption of new agricultural technologies with a misplaced assumption that technology alone will inherently bring all the benefits. On one hand, farms are going through a paradigm shift, and are turning into net electricity generators, and on the other, higher penetration of intermittent renewable sources into the electricity grid, require dynamic loads to help the grid balance its intra-hour variability and short duration ramps. The agricultural industry could be restructured to utilize larger amounts of renewable energy such as wind and solar and provide a great deal of flexibility to the grid. As emerging producers of clean energy, farmers are required to learn and speak the complex language of the electricity grid in order to monetize their energy generation while making the renewable electricity grid more resilient and reliable. In this paper, we develop a foundational approach for understanding and connecting three important concepts that can help the agricultural industry during this critical transition period. Those three concepts are: (a) current and future needs of the electricity grid, (b) available electricity market mechanisms through which farms can provide services to the grid, and (c) understanding electricity consuming/generating equipment on farms. Finally, defining these concepts and condensing them into a standardized framework, can remove a significant barrier for enabling farms to provide services to the electricity grid while improving their bottom line.

• Research Organization: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE)
• Grant/Contract Number: AC02-05CH11231
• OSTI ID: 1508068
• Journal Information: Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal Name: Journal of Cleaner Production Journal Issue: C Vol. 220; ISSN 0959-6526
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
Agriculture
Ancillary services
Demand response
Electricity
Irrigation
Water