Assessing the lighting systems flexibility for reducing and managing the power peaks in smart grids

Abstract

The application of “shiftable” or “modulable” load (i.e. washing machine, dishwasher, etc.) in a Smart Grid, can provide energy saving or modify the power flows in the grid, allowing a reduction of the electrical power peak. This paper explores the possibility to modulate the indoor artificial lighting to support this reduction. The study examines the impact of two different measures of power shaving. On the one hand, the change of Correlated Colour Temperature of the light source, and, on the other hand, the dimming of its luminous flux. The possibility to merge the above-mentioned technical solutions is also analyzed. Based on these strategies, several daily schedules of lighting management are defined, and the corresponding energy saving during some critical time slots are assessed. Results show that in all cases, it is possible to achieve a significant reduction of the absorbed power and a consequent increment of energy savings (up to 59%) also in specific time ranges. Furthermore, considering the application of a Daylight-linked control system, it was observed that power regulation associated with the exploitation of the daylight represents itself a way to dynamically reduce the electric loads on the grid.