Residential real-time price response simulation

The electric industry is gaining experience with innovative price responsive demand pilots and limited roll-outs to customers. One of these pilots is investigating real-time pricing signals to engage end-use systems and local distributed generation and storage in a distributed optimization process. Attractive aspects about the approach include strong scalability characteristics, simplified interfaces between automation devices, and the adaptability to integrate a wide variety of devices and systems. Experience in this nascent field is revealing a rich array of engineering decisions to consider along with the application of complexity theory. To test the decisions, computer simulations are used to reveal insights about design, demand elasticity, and the limits of response (including consumer fatigue). Agent-based approaches lend themselves well in the simulation to modeling the participation and interaction of each piece of equipment on a distribution feeder. This paper discusses rate design and simulation experiences at the distribution feeder level where consumers and their HVAC systems and water heaters on a feeder receive real-time pricing signals.