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@article{Thrän:2026:10.1016/j.enconman.2025.120811,
author = {Thrän, J and Green, TC and Shorten, R},
doi = {10.1016/j.enconman.2025.120811},
journal = {Energy Conversion and Management},
title = {Levelised cost of demand response: estimating the cost-competitiveness of flexible demand},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2025.120811},
volume = {349},
year = {2026}
}
TY - JOUR
AB - To make well-informed investment decisions, energy system stakeholders require reliable cost frameworks for demand response and storage technologies. While the levelised cost of storage permits comprehensive cost comparisons between different storage technologies, no generic cost measure for the comparison of different demand response schemes exists. This paper introduces the levelised cost of demand response, which is an analogous measure to the levelised cost of storage but crucially differs from it by considering consumer reward payments. Additionally, the value factor from cost estimations of variable renewable energy is adapted to account for the variable availability of demand response. The levelised cost of demand response is estimated for four direct load control schemes and twelve storage applications, and then contrasted against literature values for the levelised cost of the most competitive storage technologies. The direct load control schemes are vehicle-to-grid, smart charging, smart heat pumps, and heat pumps with thermal storage. The results show that only heat pumps with thermal storage consistently outcompete storage technologies, with EV-based schemes being competitive for some applications. The results and the underlying methodology offer a tool for energy system stakeholders to assess the competitiveness of demand response schemes even with limited user data.
AU - Thrän,J
AU - Green,TC
AU - Shorten,R
DO - 10.1016/j.enconman.2025.120811
PY - 2026///
SN - 0196-8904
TI - Levelised cost of demand response: estimating the cost-competitiveness of flexible demand
T2 - Energy Conversion and Management
UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2025.120811
UR - https://doi.org/10.1016/j.enconman.2025.120811
VL - 349
ER -
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