Distributed Intelligence in Load Control: Results of an Experiment Using Demand Limiting Devices for Residential Load Control

The experiment described here involves the application of demand-limiting equipment in all-electric homes by the Omaha Public Power District and the Department of Energy. Dual control of the demand limiters allowed the customer to select the desired peak demand level, which was maintained by the local logic of the demand controller; the utility could then reduce the level proportionally by transmission of control signals via telephone. A residential demand rate was employed for participants. The results are of interest to electric distribution systems considering direct load control and distributed logic for load control.