An approach for demand response to alleviate power system stress conditions

Along with the growth of electricity demand and the penetration of intermittent renewable energy sources, electric power systems face more and more stress conditions especially in distribution networks. To alleviate power system stress conditions, this paper proposes an approach for implementation of demand response to control 240V loads at the distribution level. These loads include HVACs, water heaters, and clothes dryers. A multi-layer demand response model is developed that takes into account both utilities' concern of load reduction and consumers' concerns of convenience and privacy. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) is adopted to take into consideration opinions from all stakeholders in order to determine the priority and importance of various consumer groups. The proposed demand response strategy also includes the control algorithms at the appliance level, considering their dynamic priorities based on the consumers' real-time needs. Simulation results show that the proposed demand response strategy is capable of managing the distribution circuit loads to alleviate power system stress conditions.