4.2 The Changing Roles of End Users and Residents in the Energy Provision System
The traditionally centralized electricity provision system is becoming increasingly distributed. Distributed generation means that there are multiple, small generating units that are situated close to where energy is consumed (Ackermann, Andersson, and Söder, 2001; Alanne and Saari, 2006).
The integration of renewable energy generation into the electricity supply system contributes to a lower dependency on fossil fuels, as well as lower CO2-equivalent emissions related to fossil fuel consumption. Additionally, distributed generation avoids transport losses because long-distance transport can be minimized.
One characteristic of the electricity system is that there has to be a balance between supply and demand. Variability in supply caused by the intermittent nature of renewable energy sources like wind and solar poses a challenge to the reliability of the power system. Energy loads from end users as well as fine-tuning of the energy supply have to be taken into account for regulation of the power system. Both issues require upgrading the grid toward a “smarter grid” (Charles, 2009). A smart grid makes use of information and communications technology (ICT) to manage the balance between supply and demand, and as such to accommodate the integration of renewable energy sources into the power system. Development in this area has focused mainly on technology development. As mentioned, social acceptance and shaping household behavior have received scant attention (Wolsink, 2011).
Currently the balancing of supply and demand is invisible for household end users. The energy system transition, however, expects end users of electricity, from industry to consumers, to play an active role in the management of the system (European Technology Platform SmartGrids, 2011; International Energy Agency, 2011).
A restructuring of utilities infrastructures is already taking place, as Van Vliet, Chappells, and Shove (2005) described. It is expected that a variety of large-scale and small-scale systems will coexist (Wolsink, 2011; Marris, 2008). The big issue is to establish a sustainable system of energy provision, in which local energy networks with co-providing end users operate in cooperation with larger scale utility companies. This implies a change in the technologies mediating between provision and consumption, a change in the roles that consumers play in the energy provision system, and as a consequence a change in energy-related behavior.
The shift to decentralized energy generation allows consumers to play an active role in energy provision. Apart from being a “normal consumer” who buys energy from an energy provider, consumers can choose to become producers of energy and thus participate in the energy market. A concept from literature to capture this is co-provision (Van Vliet, Chappells, and Shove, 2005). Van Vliet and coauthors argue that the ongoing restructuring of utilities infrastructure leads utilities and users to act as “co-managers” in order to establish environmentally sustainable infrastructures for water, electricity, and waste services. They argue that the role of consumers is becoming differentiated, and as a consequence so are the ways in which services are provided and demand is managed.
They define four consumer roles:
Given the idea that the energy provision system would develop into a system in which microgrids with distributed generation are connected to the larger grid, households in local communities would become participants in the local microgrid. As Wolsink argued, when users become the managers of production in a microgrid, distributed generation is physically close and also at a closer “social distance.” When these users decide to cooperate, for example by integrating their “distributed generation units” in a cooperative microgrid, they constitute a community (Wolsink, 2011).
Whereas Wolsink looked at smart grid developments on the macro level in terms of social acceptance and governance, Section 4.3 of this chapter will address the micro level with energy-related behavior in households.
Changes in the system of energy provision predict that households will add an extra dimension to their energy consumption behavior. In addition to the need to facilitate energy efficiency, co-management of supply and demand in the local grid has to be facilitated. This means not only being energy efficient (energy saving) but also taking advantage of energy that is available from distributed generation in the local community.