The challenge of adapting centralised electricity systems: peak demand and maladaptation in South East Queensland, Australia
Tóm tắt
South East Queensland’s (SEQ’s) centralised electricity system is under great pressure to adapt. Climate change is converging with socio-economic, demographic and technological changes to create a ‘perfect storm’ for the region’s electricity system. Distribution networks are particularly affected, with these factors contributing to tremendous peak demand growth, about double the rate of growth in average demand in recent years. This paper reviews how Australia’s electricity system is adapting to multiple drivers of peak electricity demand. We use socio-technical transitions theory to understand the temporal interconnected social and technical dimensions of adaptation in this setting. Specifically, we present an historical narrative of the emergence of centralisation in Australia and outline the peak demand problem in SEQ and review adaptation options from the international literature. We also analyse the interactions between key social groups and their adaptation responses over the past decade. Our analysis shows that adaptation has become a contested process between supply-chain actors and end-users, each with different economic objectives, adaptation needs and capacities. The resulting adaptation dynamic that is emerging shows worrying signs of maladaptation. Implications for market governance and urban policy and research are discussed.
Tài liệu tham khảo
ABS (2011) Regional population growth, Australia, 2009–2010. Canberra, Australia
AEMC (2010) Future possible retail electricity price movements: 1 July 2010 to 30 June 2013, Final report. Sydney, NSW
AEMO (2012) National electricity forecasting report for the national electricity market (NEM). Australian energy market operator
APVA (2011) Modelling of PV and electricity prices in the Australian residential sector, 2011. Australian PV association
Barnett J, O’Neill S (2010) Maladaptation. Global Environ Change 20(2):211–213. doi:10.1016/j.gloenvcha.2009.11.004
Berry M (1999) Unravelling the “Australian housing solution”: the post-war years. Hous Theory Soc 16(3):106–123. doi:10.1080/14036099950149974
Blokhuis E, Brouwers B, van der Putten E, Schaefer W (2011) Peak loads and network investments in sustainable energy transitions. Energy Policy 39(10):6220
Booth RR (2003) Warring tribes: the story of power development in Australia, 2nd edn. Bardak Group, West Perth
Bouffard F, Kirschen DS (2008) Centralised and distributed electricity systems. Energy Policy 36(12):4504–4508. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2008.09.060
Brown N, Rappert B, Webster A (eds) (2000) Contested futures: a sociology of prospective techno-science. Ashgate Publishing Limited, Aldershot
Bruce A, Watt ME, Passey R (2009) Who buys PV systems? A survey of NSW residential PV rebate recipients. Paper presented at the Solar09, the 47th ANZSES annual conference, Townsville, Queensland, Australia
Bulkeley H, Broto CB, Hodson M, Marvin S (eds) (2010) Cities and low carbon transitions. Routledge, London
Burton I (1997) Vulnerability and adaptive response in the context of climate and climate change. Clim Change 36(1–2):185–196. doi:10.1023/a:1005334926618
CEC (2011) Clean energy Australia report 2011. Clean Energy Council
Centre Hadley (2011) Climate: observations, projections and impacts—Australia. The Met Office Hadley Centre, Exeter
Clune S, Morrissey J, Moore T (2012) Size matters: house size and thermal efficiency as policy strategies to reduce net emissions of new developments. Energy Policy (0). doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2012.05.072
CSIRO (2007) Climate change in Australia—technical report 2007. CSIRO, Bureau of Meteorology, Australian Government, Canberra
Dhakal S (2009) Urban energy use and carbon emissions from cities in China and policy implications. Energy Policy 37(11):4208–4219
Dosi G (1982) Technological paradigms and technological trajectories: a suggested interpretation of the determinants and directions of technical change. Res Policy 11(3):147–162. doi:10.1016/0048-7333(82)90016-6
Dunstan C, Boronyak L, Langham L, Ison N, Usher J, Cooper C, White S (2011) Think small: the Australian decentralised energy roadmap: Issue 1, December 2011. CSIRO Intelligent Grid Research Program. Institute for Sustainable Futures, University of Technology Sydney
EES (2006) Status of air conditioners in Australia—Updated with 2005 data. ACT, Canberra
Elzen B, Wieczorek A (2005) Transitions towards sustainability through system innovation. Technol Forecast Soc Change 72(6):651–661. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2005.04.002
Evans MDR, Kelley J (2008) Trends in women’s labor force participation in Australia: 1984–2002. Soc Sci Res 37(1):287–310. doi:10.1016/j.ssresearch.2007.01.009
Farbotko C, Waitt G (2011) Residential air-conditioning and climate change: voices of the vulnerable. Health Promot J Aust 22:S13–S16
Faruqui A, Sergici S (2010) Household response to dynamic pricing of electricity: a survey of 15 experiments. J Regul Econ 38(2):193–225. doi:10.1007/s11149-010-9127-y
Garnaut R (2011) Garnaut climate change review—update paper eight: transforming the electricity sector. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra
Gascoigne T (2008) Climate change: “The” issue in the Australian national election 2007? Sci Commun 29(4):522–531. doi:10.1177/1075547008316306
Geels FW (2002) Technological transitions as evolutionary reconfiguration processes: a multi-level perspective and a case-study. Res Policy 31(8–9):1257–1274. doi:10.1016/s0048-7333(02)00062-8
Geels FW (2004) From sectoral systems of innovation to socio-technical systems: insights about dynamics and change from sociology and institutional theory. Res Policy 33(6–7):897–920. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2004.01.015
Geels FW, Schot J (2007) Typology of sociotechnical transition pathways. Res Policy 36(3):399–417
Giannakopoulos C, Kostopoulou E, Varotsos K, Tziotziou K, Plitharas A (2011) An integrated assessment of climate change impacts for Greece in the near future. Reg Environ Change 11(4):829–843. doi:10.1007/s10113-011-0219-8
Hagan S (2012) Metabolic suburbs or the virtue of low densities. Arch Res Q 16(1):9–13. doi:10.1017/S1359135512000243
Harvey D (1989) From managerialism to entrepreneurialism: the transformation in urban governance in late capitalism. Geogr Ann Ser B 71(1):3–17. doi:10.2307/490503
Hensley R, Newman J, Rogers M (2012) Battery technology charges ahead. McKinsey Quarterly July
Herring H, Roy R (2007) Technological innovation, energy efficient design and the rebound effect. Technovation 27(4):194–203
Higgins A, Paevere P, Gardner J, Quezada G (2012) Combining choice modelling and multi-criteria analysis for technology diffusion: an application to the uptake of electric vehicles. Technol Forecast Soc Change 79:1399–1412
Horne R, Hayles C (2008) Towards global benchmarking for sustainable homes: an international comparison of the energy performance of housing. J Hous Built Environ 23(2):119–130. doi:10.1007/s10901-008-9105-1
Hughes TP (1987) The evolution of large technological systems. In: Bijker WE, Hughes TP, Pinch T (eds) The social construction of technological systems: new directions in the sociology and history of technology. MIT Press, Cambridge, pp 51–82
Hui SCM (2001) Low energy building design in high density urban cities. Renew Energy 24(3–4):627–640. doi:10.1016/s0960-1481(01)00049-0
Kemp R, Schot J, Hoogma R (1998) Regime shifts to sustainability through processes of niche formation: the approach of strategic niche management. Technol Anal Strateg Manag 10(2):175–195
Keys N, Bussey M, Thomsen DC, Lynam T, Smith TF (2013) Building adaptive capacity in South East Queensland, Australia. Reg Environ Change. doi:10.1007/s10113-012-0394-2
Kihm S (2009) When revenue decoupling will work … and when it won’t. Electr J 22(8):19–28. doi:10.1016/j.tej.2009.08.002
Kim E, Barles S (2012) The energy consumption of Paris and its supply areas from the eighteenth century to the present. Reg Environ Change 12(2):295–310. doi:10.1007/s10113-011-0275-0
Madlener R, Sunak Y (2011) Impacts of urbanization on urban structures and energy demand: what can we learn for urban energy planning and urbanization management? Sustain Cities Soc 1(1):45–53. doi:10.1016/j.scs.2010.08.006
Martinez-Zarzoso I, Maruotti A (2011) The impact of urbanization on CO2 emissions: evidence from developing countries. Ecol Econ 70(7):1344–1353
McCarty JW (1970) Australian capital cities in the 19th century. Aust Econ Hist Rev 10(2):107
Miller NL, Hayhoe K, Jin J, Auffhammer M (2008) Climate, extreme heat, and electricity demand in California. J Appl Meteorol Climatol 47(6):1834–1844. doi:10.1175/2007jamc1480.1
Miller W, Buys L, Bell J (2012) Performance evaluation of eight contemporary passive solar homes in subtropical Australia. Build Environ 56(2):57–68
Moran A (2008) The emergence of Australia’s electricity market. Int J Global Energy Issues 29(1–2):88–108. doi:10.1504/ijgei.2008.016343
Narula CK, Martinez R, Onar O, Starke MR, Andrews G (2011) Economic analysis of deploying used batteries in power systems. Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge
Nelson T, Simshauser P, Nelson J (2012) Queensland solar feed-in tariffs and the merit-order effect: economic benefit, or regressive taxation and wealth transfers? AGL Appl Econ Policy Res, working paper no 30:1–22
Newsham G (2011) A comparison of four methods to evaluate the effect of a utility residential air-conditioner load control program on peak electricity use. Energy Policy 39(10):6376
Newsham GR, Bowker BG (2010) The effect of utility time-varying pricing and load control strategies on residential summer peak electricity use: a review. Energy Policy 38(7):3289–3296. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2010.01.027
QCA (2013) Draft determination—regulated retail electricity prices 2013–14. Queensland Competition Authority, Brisbane
Queensland Government (2008) South East Queensland: state of the region. Technical report. Queensland Government, Brisbane
Reddy TA (1991) Shaving residential air-conditioner electricity peaks by intelligent use of the building thermal mass. Energy (Oxford) 16(7):1001
Rip A, Kemp R (1998) Technological change. human choice and climate change, Volume 2: resources and technology, Battelle Press, 2:327–327
Romero-Lankao P, Dodman D (2011) Cities in transition: transforming urban centers from hotbeds of GHG emissions and vulnerability to seedbeds of sustainability and resilience: introduction and Editorial overview. Current Opin Environ Sustain 3(3):113–120. doi:10.1016/j.cosust.2011.02.002
Schipper L (1987) Residential electricity consumption in industrialized countries: changes since 1973. Energy (Oxford) 12(12):1197
Schnore LF (1957) The growth of metropolitan suburbs. Am Soc Rev 22(2):165
Shahid S (2012) Vulnerability of the power sector of Bangladesh to climate change and extreme weather events. Reg Environ Change 12(3):595–606. doi:10.1007/s10113-011-0276-z
Sharma D (2003) The multidimensionality of electricity reform-an Australian perspective. Energy Policy 31(11):1093
Sharma D, Bartels R (1997) Distributed electricity generation in competitive energy markets: A case study in Australia. Energy J 19 (SPEC. ISS.):17–39
Shove E (2003) Users, technologies and expectations of comfort, cleanliness and convenience. Innovation 16(2):193–206
Simmers JM (2004) The coming of the light to suburban Brisbane. Aust J Electr Electron Eng 1(2):127–141
Simshauser P, Nelson T, Doan T (2011a) The boomerang paradox, part I: how a nation’s wealth is creating fuel poverty. Electr J 24(1):72–91. doi:10.1016/j.tej.2010.12.001
Simshauser P, Nelson T, Doan T (2011b) The boomerang paradox, part II: policy prescriptions for reducing fuel poverty in Australia. Electr J 24(2):63–75. doi:10.1016/j.tej.2011.01.017
SKM (2011) Preliminary assessment of stand alone power systems as an alternative to grid connections at the fringe of the grid. Alternative Technology Association, Melbourne
Smit B, Burton I, Klein RJT, Wandel J (2000) An anatomy of adaptation to climate change and variability. Clim Change 45(1):223
Smith A, Stirling A, Berkhout F (2005) The governance of sustainable socio-technical transitions. Res Policy 34(10):1491–1510. doi:10.1016/j.respol.2005.07.005
Smith A, Voß J-P, Grin J (2010) Innovation studies and sustainability transitions: the allure of the multi-level perspective and its challenges. Res Policy 39(4):435–448
Spearritt P (2009) The 200 km city: Brisbane, the gold coast, and sunshine coast. Aust Econ Hist Rev 49(1):87–106
Steinberger JK, van Niel J, Bourg D (2009) Profiting from negawatts: reducing absolute consumption and emissions through a performance-based energy economy. Energy Policy 37(1):361–370
Steinfeld J, Bruce A, Watt M (2011) Peak load characteristics of Sydney office buildings and policy recommendations for peak load reduction. Energy Build 43(9):2179–2187
Swilling M (2011) Reconceptualising urbanism, ecology and networked infrastructures. Soc Dyn-J Cent Afr Stud Univ Cape Town 37(1):78–95
Szatow A, Quezada G, Lilley B (2012) New light on an old problem: reflections on barriers and enablers of distributed energy. Energy Policy 43:1–5. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2011.07.057
Tainter JA, Little A, Allen TF, Hoekstra TW (2003) Resource transitions and energy gain: contexts of organization. Conserv Ecol 7(3):4. http://www.consecol.org/vol7/iss3/art4
Trainer T (2011) We can’t have our cake and eat it too: why the energy and climate problems cannot be solved in consumer-capitalist society. Energy, Sustainability and the Environment: Technology, Incentives, Behaviour. Butterworth-Heinemann, Amsterdam
van der Vleuten E, Raven R (2006) Lock-in and change: distributed generation in Denmark in a long-term perspective. Energy Policy 34(18):3739–3748. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2005.08.016
Verbong G, Geels F (2007) The ongoing energy transition: lessons from a socio-technical, multi-level analysis of the Dutch electricity system (1960–2004). Energy Policy 35(2):1025–1037. doi:10.1016/j.enpol.2006.02.010
Verbong GPJ, Geels FW (2010) Exploring sustainability transitions in the electricity sector with socio-technical pathways. Technol Forecast Soc Change 77(8):1214–1221. doi:10.1016/j.techfore.2010.04.008
Vine E (2012) Adaptation of California’s electricity sector to climate change. Clim Change 111(1):75–99. doi:10.1007/s10584-011-0242-2
Wadley D (1981) Cost, price, and revenue differentials in electricity supply: Queensland and Australia. Aust Geogr Stud 19(1):25–46
Wang C-h, Grozev G, Seo S (2012) Decomposition and statistical analysis for regional electricity demand forecasting. Energy 41(1):313–325. doi:10.1016/j.energy.2012.03.011
Willbanks TJ, Lankao PR, Bao M, Berkhout F, Cairncross S, Ceron JP, Kapshe M, Muir-Wood R, Zapata-Marti R (2007) Industry, settlement and society. Climate change 2007: Impacts adaptation and vulnerability. contribution of working group II to the Fourth Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge