Factors affecting urban electricity consumption: a case study in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area using an integrated approach of earth observation data and data analysis

Abstract

Urbanization induces shifts in surface environmental factors, including impervious surface expansion, green space loss, and temperature increase in which the extreme temperature is supposed to significantly raise total electricity consumption (TEC) in urban areas. Applying remote sensing data and data analysis, this study aims to explore relationships between urbanization, surface environmental factors (SEF), and electricity consumption (EC). The relevance of surface temperature and total electricity consumption was also considered. The research found the disturbance of SEF through changes in vegetation index, urban index, and surface temperature. The vegetation was detected to be narrowed while the impervious surface and land surface temperature had the same trend of rising. These tendencies correspond to the urbanization process in the Bangkok Metropolitan Area (BMA). The urbanization process was also detected by extension of customers and electricity consumption, mainly in industrial sectors and household consumption. The number of users in industrial sectors well explained total consumption. Besides, the surface environmental factors jointly contributed to the consumption in the residential sector. Urban expansion assessed by urban index has more contribution to electricity utilization compared to surface temperature. These findings proved that the total consumption originated from the industrial sectors, especially the medium and large scales. These outcomes can serve the electrical business in order to provide adequate and improve service quality.

Keywords: Bangkok Metropolitan Area; Electricity consumption; Land surface temperature; Surface environmental factor; Urbanization.