Cooling Off While Utilities Heat Up in the Rockies

摘要

Over the past decade, the rapid increase in residential air conditioning in the MountainWest has been a major contributor to the explosive growth in summer peak demand requirementsfor electric utilities. In Colorado and Utah, annual energy sales have outpaced customer growthby 5% during this period, while peak load requirements have increased by over 40%. In 2002alone, approximately 160,000 central air conditioners units were shipped to these two states,representing a new system for nearly 1 out of every 16 residential electric customers in theregion and a connected load of over 580 MW.Several local utilities in Colorado and Utah have instituted incentive programs aimed atincreasing the efficiency of these installed systems. In a region of the country with a relativelyshort cooling season and where equipment sales are dominated by minimum efficiencyequipment – nearly 75% of all units were 10 SEER models in 2002 – these programs offerincentives to help customers offset a portion of the incremental costs associated with higherefficiency equipment. Through additional program eligibility requirements, some programs alsoaim to achieve increased savings by addressing common equipment selection and installationmistakes such as over-sizing, improper airflows, and incorrect equipment refrigerant charging.This paper explores the estimated impacts of increased residential air conditioningpenetration rates on utility capacity requirements and summarizes the approaches of threeseparate utilities in addressing this issue in Colorado and Utah. A review of these programs andtheir realized impacts on reducing system demand to date are also presented.