Approaches to Incorporating New Consumer Types in Long-Term Power System Development Planning in the Time of Energy Transition

We can see growth of such types of consumers as data centers, crypto mining consumers, electric vehicles and charging stations, as well electric heating, which all help achieve the goals of energy transition, digitalize various sectors of economy, and reduce dependence on fossil fuels in Russia. The spread of these types of consumers and the resulting increase in electricity and power consumption is distributed unevenly throughout the power system and creates new critical points of consumption.

The new types of consumers exhibit the following features:

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 they are significantly heterogeneous across the territory of the power system, in some cases, the territorial heterogeneity in the growth of electricity and power consumption coincides with the power system’s low-supply areas, 

 their load profile and patterns differ from those of the existing consumer types, they are integrated with the existing type of consumers (population community, transport), which hinders the assessment of their behavior. Aiming to adequately incorporate the new types of consumers in the electricity and power consumption forecast, the nature and behavior of their load, typical grid connection points, and the impact on the electricity and power consumption curve of the entire power system were examined, and assessed the need to update the existing methodology for the purpose of forecasting.

Relying on the System Operator’s research findings, the proposals to incorporate the new types of consumers in the forecast of electricity and power consumption were defined, as well as the relevant numeric ratios and coefficients were proposed.