Impact of demand response contracts on load forecasting in a smart grid environment

Load forecasting is highly important for power system operation and planning. Demand response, as a valuable feature in smart grid, is growing dramatically as an effective demand management method. However, traditional load forecasting tools have limitations to reflect demand response customer behaviors into load predictions. The energy consumption by demand response customers is mostly guided by their signed contracts. Therefore, existing demand response contracts are reviewed in this study for both wholesale and retail markets. An illustrative example is provided to explore the impact of these contracts on load forecasting. A concept of proactive load forecasting considering contract types is then proposed and discussed for forecasting loads in a smart grid environment.