Title :
Challenges in demand load control for the smart grid
Author :
Koutsopoulos, Iordanis ; Tassiulas, Leandros
Author_Institution :
Center for Res. & Technol., Univ. of Thessaly, Hellas, Greece
Abstract :
The ground to address challenges in demand load control for the smart power grid is now more fertile than ever, due to advances in communication infrastructures and the creation of a two-way channel for real-time communication between consumers and the utility operator. After giving a taxonomy of methods for demand load control, we focus on two of these methods that aim at minimizing the grid operational cost. The cost is a convex function of instantaneous power consumption and reflects the fact that each additional unit of power needed to serve demands is more expensive as the demand load increases. First, we consider online scheduling of power demand tasks that have time flexibility in being activated, in terms of a deadline. We outline the rationale for threshold-based policies that activate a demand if the instantaneous consumption is low; otherwise, they postpone it until later. Second, we discuss the use of stored energy for serving part of the demand at peak load times. This implies increasing the demand load at off-peak times through battery charging and decreasing the demand load at peak load times through discharging. We conclude with some open challenges in demand load management.
Keywords :
demand side management; load flow control; power consumption; scheduling; smart power grids; battery charging; communication infrastructures; consumers; convex function; demand load control; demand load management; grid operational cost; instantaneous power consumption; online scheduling; power demand tasks; real-time communication; smart power grid; threshold-based policies; utility operator; Costs; Load control; Power distribution lines; Power generation planning; Real time systems; Smart grids; Supply and demand;
Journal_Title :
Network, IEEE
DOI :
10.1109/MNET.2011.6033031