SmartLink: A hierarchical approach for connecting smart buildings to smart grids

It is widely acknowledged that Automated Demand Response (ADR) is a key factor for the success of the Smart Grid. However, most current ADR implementations are implemented through some form of direct load control, where the utility is handed control to remotely shutdown some agreed electric load at the consumers site. However, being aware of context details local to consumer would lead to actions that potentially achieve greater savings. The role of agents that stand in between the utility and clients known as aggregators have received great attention as they can, in principle, explore this context information. We argue that the current model of DR is too limiting of the consumption reduction potential of ADR and champion a fully decoupled hierarchical ADR model, which is based on a more general definition of aggregator. In this article we present the concept of an hierarchical ADR model designated as SmartLink, where different types of aggregator nodes are connected together forming a tree of decision nodes which are capable of cooperatively creating highly adaptable load control strategies to meet a given load reduction targets and taking into account the consumer's local specificities, preferences and utilization constraints.