Application of a demand-response-optimized electrical load profile to a plant supplying an energy micro-community

Demand response (DR) programs are able to efficiently balance supply and demand both on grid-connected and islanded microgrids by deploying renewable energy sources and storage systems. In this work, carried out under the MiSE - ENEA 2019–2021 program agreement on Electrical System Research, the authors applied DR logics to optimize the electrical load profile of an apartment building acting as an energy micro-community. In the study, conducted with an experimental hybrid system called S.A.P.I.EN.T.E., an energy micro-community of apartment buildings was tested under real operating conditions. Through the plant control system, it was possible to emulate and compare the results coming from the implementation of a non-optimized electrical load and of the DR-optimized one. The advantages in terms of energy self-consumption and self-sufficiency have been highlighted. We also extended the study to a larger energy community employing a simulation platform based on Matlab/Simulink models to evaluate the energetics indices and economic profitability by applying DR logics.