In September 2021, a new research laboratory, the Demand Response Lab (DRLab), was established at FER, headed by professor Hrvoje Pandzic.
The laboratory is designed as an active household consisting of a series of devices (battery stack, electric vehicle charger and numerous household appliances) whose electricity consumption is managed in order to respond to signals from an aggregator or a power system operator.
Within the DRLab, two projects are being implemented that deal with the demand response from smart households (ANIMATION - HRZZ) and the development of prototypes of connected stationary battery energy storage systems (USBSE - EFRR). Both projects are fully in line with the new power system paradigm according to which current passive electricity customers will become active power system participants.
More information about FER’s new research lab and a few photos can be found below.
Namely, given the increase in the share of renewable energy sources, there are increasingly more non-controllable electricity generators in the system (wind and solar power plants) and the balancing of the system is shifting to the consumption side. It is, therefore, important to act in two directions: to awaken the market for the demand response for households and activate their flexibility and to develop energy storage systems for storing energy from renewable energy sources.
Active consumers who can move their consumption over time, so that it coincides with production from renewable energy sources, are key to a very high share of electricity production from renewable sources and consequently for the sustainable development of modern society. Because of their controllable devices, active consumers can manage their consumption and change their load profiles. Although these devices have relatively small individual powers, their aggregation can achieve great potential in terms of demand response programs.
