Residential load scheduling considering maximum demand using binary particle swarm optimisation

Demand response (DR) programs are gaining importance in smart grid, owing to the continuously increasing energy demand. The primary objective of DR programs is to motivate consumers to change the power consumption pattern to limit the maximum demand. The success of residential DR programs largely depends on schedulable loads and the nature of utility tariff. Binary particle swarm optimisation (BPSO) is an effective tool for solving scheduling problems. In this paper, a BPSO based solution is presented through a case study for the residential load scheduling problem including the consumer demand constraints and maximum demand (MD) limit specified by the utility. The objective of the algorithm is to automatically schedule the consumer's load so as to minimise the energy cost subject to various constraints. Simulation experiments are conducted under different tariff and MD limit conditions. Test results show that the proposed method saves energy cost of the domestic consumer and reduces the maximum demand on the system.