Standardizing Demand-Side Management: OpenADR and its impact

The terms generation, transmission, and distribution are the categories under which operations and planning of electric power systems have traditionally been discussed. Notable by their absence are the facilities in which the electricity that is generated, transmitted, and distributed is consumed-homes, buildings, and industrial plants. This exclusion was logical when generation was centralized and dispatchable; the supplydemand balance could be maintained through actions at generators. Variations in consumption, whether predictable in the short or long term or the result of unforeseen contingencies, could be addressed by increasing or decreasing kilowatts produced.