Demand side management in a smart grid environment

The demand side management (DSM) comprises techniques and policies which aim at equalizing energy consumption levels over the day. As opposed to the supply side management involving the addition of new generation units and total installed capacity, the idea here is not only to increase the energy to be supplied, but also to control the shape of consumption by applying energy management techniques. The main challenge in the implementation of a DSM program is the quest for knowledge of the daily behavior of loads in the electrical system, which is generally not available from the systems based on conventional electromechanical meters. In such a scenario, the emergence of novel technologies like Smart Grid technology, creates an environment for convergence between the infrastructures of generation, transmission, distribution, information technology and digital communication infrastructure which enables the exchange of information and control actions among the various segments of the power grid. The paper throws light on the research trends within the area of demand side management in a smart grid environment and proposes a scheduling scheme using genetic algorithm for load management. Simulation results confirm that the proposed algorithm efficiently reduces the PAR and electricity consumption cost.