Residential end-uses disaggregation and demand response evaluation using integral transforms

Demand response is a basic tool used to develop modern power systems and electricity markets. Residential and commercial segments account for 40%-50% of the overall electricity demand. These segments need to overcome major obstacles before they can be included in a demand response portfolio. The objective of this paper is to tackle some of the technical barriers and explain how the potential of enabling technology (smart meters) can be harnessed, to evaluate the potential of customers for demand response (end-uses and their behaviors) and, moreover, to validate customers' effective response to market prices or system events by means of non-intrusive methods. A tool based on the Hilbert transform is improved herein to identify and characterize the most suitable loads for the aforesaid purpose, whereby important characteristics such as cycling frequency, power level and pulse width are identified. The proposed methodology allows the filtering of aggregated load according to the amplitudes of elemental loads, independently of the frequency of their behaviors that could be altered by internal or external inputs such as weather or demand response. In this way, the assessment and verification of customer response can be improved by solving the problem of load aggregation with the help of integral transforms.