美國智慧電網營運效率評估與區域比較之探討

Abstract

智慧電網是近年來熱門的科技，適用於電力系統中的需求側管理。隨著政府的投資增加，實際的省電功效是否有等比例於投入的資金是值得探討的議題。本文旨在利用兩階段資料包絡分析法分析美國智慧電網的資料，來衡量智慧電網的營運效率，其中將營運分為宣導安裝階段和節省電能階段。資料包絡分析法的結果會進一步分析，找出隱含在需求側管理活動底下的啟示。最後，根據資料分析的結果，推導出三個重要的發現： (1)美國智慧電網普遍表現無效率性；(2)投入於智慧電網的資金大多轉換成建置成本，但對於傳換成實際省電量提升有限； (3)地區發展對於智慧電網的效率有顯著的影響。

The smart grid is now the popular technology to implement the demand side management in the power systems. While the government invested a lot to install the smart meters, the real effect on the reduction of energy consumption still worths further discussion. In this paper, the two-stage data envelopment analysis (DEA) is applied to the data collected from U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) to measure the efficiency of the whole operation of the smart grid in the United States and to compare the difference between state to state, which begins with the promotion and installation of the smart grid to the actual ability to reduce the energy consumption and peak demand. The results are then analyzed to explore the implications of the smart grid behind demand-side activities. Finally, three insights are discovered: (1) the smart grid system still presents inefficiency; (2) the costs invested in the installation of the smart meters convert to relatively small energy savings; (3) regional development plays a role in the whole operation of the smart grid.