Distributed Load Scheduling in Residential Neighborhoods for Coordinated Operation of Multiple Home Energy Management Systems

TL;DR

This paper proposes a distributed, incentive-based load scheduling framework for residential neighborhoods with multiple HEMS, improving grid stability and customer benefits through coordinated operation and privacy-preserving algorithms.

Contribution

It introduces a novel coordinated load scheduling method using ADMM with personalized incentives, enhancing grid stability and customer cooperation in a distributed manner.

Findings

Effective load balancing and peak reduction demonstrated in simulations.

Improved grid operational security and customer benefits.

Distributed algorithm preserves customer privacy.

Abstract

Recently, home energy management systems (HEMS) are gaining more popularity enabling customers to minimize their electricity bill under time-varying electricity prices. Although they offer a promising solution for better energy management in smart grids, the uncoordinated and autonomous operation of HEMS may lead to some operational problems at the grid level. This paper aims to develop a coordinated framework for the operation of multiple HEMS in a residential neighborhood based on the optimal and secure operation of the grid. In the proposed framework customers cooperate to optimize energy consumption at the neighborhood level and prevent any grid operational constraints violation. A new price-based global and individualized incentives are proposed for customers to respond and adjust loads. The individual customers are rewarded for their cooperation and the network operator benefits by eliminating rebounding network peaks. The alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) technique is used to implement coordinated load scheduling in a distributed manner reducing the computational burden and ensure customer privacy. Simulation results demonstrate the efficacy of the proposed method in maintaining nominal network conditions while ensuring benefits for individual customers as well as grid operators.