Semi-Distributed Demand Response Solutions for Smart Homes

TL;DR

This paper proposes a scalable semi-distributed demand response system for smart homes that balances efficiency, privacy, and scalability by combining centralized and local control mechanisms within capacity markets.

Contribution

It introduces a two-level control architecture for demand response in smart homes, addressing privacy and scalability issues of centralized solutions.

Findings

Enhanced privacy preservation with limited feedback

Scalable control system suitable for capacity markets

Improved demand response performance

Abstract

The Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm brings an opportunity for advanced Demand Response (DR) solutions. It enables visibility and control on the various appliances that may consume, store or generate energy within a home. It has been shown that a centralized control on the appliances of a set of households leads to efficient DR mechanisms; unfortunately, such solutions raise privacy and scalability issues. In this chapter we propose an approach that deals with these issues. Specifically, we introduce a scalable two-levels control system where a centralized controller allocates power to each house on one side and, each household implements a DR local solution on the other side. A limited feedback to the centralized controller allows to enhance the performance with little impact on privacy. The solution is proposed for the general framework of capacity markets.