Home Energy Management Systems: Operation and Resilience of Heuristics against Cyberattacks

TL;DR

This paper examines how heuristic algorithms in home energy management systems (HEMSs) respond to cyberattacks targeting demand-response data, highlighting vulnerabilities and resilience strategies to ensure efficient and secure energy management.

Contribution

It introduces demand-response based DSM in HEMSs, analyzes cyberattack impacts, and evaluates the resilience of heuristic algorithms against such threats.

Findings

Heuristic algorithms show varying resilience to cyberattacks.

Cyberattacks can significantly increase electricity bills and peak loads.

Research directions for enhancing HEMS security are proposed.

Abstract

Internet of Things (IoT) and advanced communication technologies have demonstrated great potential to manage residential energy resources by enabling demand-side management (DSM). Home energy management systems (HEMSs) can automatically control electricity production and usage inside homes using DSM techniques. These HEMSs will wirelessly collect information from hardware installed in the power system and in homes with the objective to intelligently and efficiently optimize electricity usage and minimize costs. However, HEMSs can be vulnerable to cyberattacks that target the electricity pricing model. The cyberattacker manipulates the pricing information collected by a customer's HEMS to misguide its algorithms toward non-optimal solutions. The customer's electricity bill increases, and additional peaks are created without being detected by the system operator. This article introduces demand-response (DR)-based DSM in HEMSs and discusses DR optimization using heuristic algorithms. Moreover, it discusses the possibilities and impacts of cyberattacks, their effectiveness, and the degree of resilience of heuristic algorithms against cyberattacks. This article also opens research questions and shows prospective directions.