Resilient Distributed Real-Time Demand Response via Population Games

The proliferation of high powered electric devices is a driving force in the rising of peak power demand from electric power utilities. One way to accommodate these rising consumption patterns involves the deployment of high capacity dispatchable, but largely unsustainable peak generation systems. To avert these extravagant costs and the likelihood of grid overload, demand response (DR) strategies can be employed to curtail overall consumption, thus reducing peak patterns. In this paper, we propose a distributed real-time DR approach. The proposed method fosters seamless cooperation between DR participants for rapid convergence to expected aggregate load curtailment, while accounting for individual consumer satisfaction needs. We assess this paper through theoretical analysis based on population game theory and simulations to demonstrate its inherent flexibility, scalability, and resilience making it attractive for practical widespread deployment.