A Distributed Optimal Load Control Model for Heterogeneous Homes Responding to Time of Use

Time-of-Use (TOU) has great potential to reduce electricity payments and improve the stability of the power system with demand response (DR) implementation. This paper presents a load control model for optimal residential DR implementation responding to TOU in a distribution network, in which the main stakeholders are utilities and homes. The load control model is formulated into a linear programming (LP) problem to minimize electricity payment and waiting time. A software home agent (HA) is designed to represent a home owner. The HA can predict and control electricity loads. A heterogeneous load prediction model simulates the benchmark of individual and aggregated load profiles based on statistical information of how people use their appliances including electric vehicles (EV). Each home has a unique load profile depending on its local configurations. Simulation results show that the peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) and electricity payments are significantly reduced using the proposed models. The proposed optimal control mechanism can be embedded into a home energy management system (EMS) to make intelligent decisions on behalf of homeowners responding to DR policies.