Can Carbon-Aware Electric Load Shifting Reduce Emissions? An Equilibrium-Based Analysis

Fuente: arXiv
Gespeichert in:
Bibliographische Detailangaben
Hauptverfasser: Jiang, Wenqian, Huber, Olivier, Ferris, Michael C., Roald, Line
Format: Preprint
Veröffentlicht: 2025
Schlagworte:
Online-Zugang:
Tags: Tag hinzufügen
Keine Tags, Fügen Sie den ersten Tag hinzu!
_version_ 1866908710148767744
author Jiang, Wenqian
Huber, Olivier
Ferris, Michael C.
Roald, Line
author_facet Jiang, Wenqian
Huber, Olivier
Ferris, Michael C.
Roald, Line
contents An increasing number of electric loads, such as hydrogen producers or data centers, can be characterized as carbon-sensitive, meaning that they are willing to adapt the timing and/or location of their electricity usage in order to minimize carbon footprints. However, the emission reduction efforts of these carbon-sensitive loads rely on carbon intensity information such as average carbon emissions, and it is unclear whether load shifting based on these signals effectively reduces carbon emissions. To address this open question, we design a carbon-aware equilibrium model, which expands the commonly used equilibrium model for standard (carbon-agnostic) electricity market clearing to include carbon-sensitive consumers that adapt their consumption based on average carbon emission signals and carbon costs. This analysis represents an idealized situation for carbon-sensitive consumers, where their carbon preferences are reflected directly in the market clearing, and contrasts with current practice, where carbon emission signals only become known to consumers a posteriori (i.e., after the market has already been cleared). Furthermore, we extend our model to consider temporal load shifting and time-varying maximum renewable generations. We employ illustrative three-bus examples and numerical simulations on the IEEE RTS-GMLC system to reveal the limitations of the widely adopted average carbon emission signal for guiding carbon emission reduction. Our model offers a novel perspective for evaluating the effectiveness of different carbon signals and contributes to new carbon signal design.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2504_07248
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Can Carbon-Aware Electric Load Shifting Reduce Emissions? An Equilibrium-Based Analysis
Jiang, Wenqian
Huber, Olivier
Ferris, Michael C.
Roald, Line
Systems and Control
An increasing number of electric loads, such as hydrogen producers or data centers, can be characterized as carbon-sensitive, meaning that they are willing to adapt the timing and/or location of their electricity usage in order to minimize carbon footprints. However, the emission reduction efforts of these carbon-sensitive loads rely on carbon intensity information such as average carbon emissions, and it is unclear whether load shifting based on these signals effectively reduces carbon emissions. To address this open question, we design a carbon-aware equilibrium model, which expands the commonly used equilibrium model for standard (carbon-agnostic) electricity market clearing to include carbon-sensitive consumers that adapt their consumption based on average carbon emission signals and carbon costs. This analysis represents an idealized situation for carbon-sensitive consumers, where their carbon preferences are reflected directly in the market clearing, and contrasts with current practice, where carbon emission signals only become known to consumers a posteriori (i.e., after the market has already been cleared). Furthermore, we extend our model to consider temporal load shifting and time-varying maximum renewable generations. We employ illustrative three-bus examples and numerical simulations on the IEEE RTS-GMLC system to reveal the limitations of the widely adopted average carbon emission signal for guiding carbon emission reduction. Our model offers a novel perspective for evaluating the effectiveness of different carbon signals and contributes to new carbon signal design.
title Can Carbon-Aware Electric Load Shifting Reduce Emissions? An Equilibrium-Based Analysis
topic Systems and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.07248