Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Faria 2013
Faria 2013
fully edited.
Some content may change prior to final publication.
1
Abstract—Demand response (DR) is not a new concept but it is gaining a growing focus of attention in nowadays electric power systems
operation and planning, with several advantages for the reliable power system functioning and for electricity prices. In this paper, price-based
DR is applied to electricity consumers through the management of electricity prices. This management is based on demand elasticity and
consumers are expected to react enabling to accomplish the required load reduction. The methodology is implemented in a developed DR
simulator – DemSi - that uses PSCAD® for technical validation of solutions and Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) for solution optimization.
The performance of PSO is evaluated in terms of running time and obtained solutions in comparison with the Non-Linear Programming
(NLP) solutions obtained in GAMS™. Case studies involving 32 and 320 consumers are used to illustrate the proposed methodology and to
discuss its performance.
Index Terms — Demand response, distribution network, electricity markets, particle swarm optimization, power systems, simulation.
—————————— ——————————
proposed methodology that has been implemented in the simulator lead to periods with excess of generated energy. This imposes
presented in section 4. Section 5 presents a case study. Finally, the relevant losses in wind curtailment making wind farms less
most important conclusions of the work are presented in Section efficient and the corresponding investment payback period higher.
6. The use of DR programs to increase load consumption in these
periods helps to overcome this problem.
Price elasticity is a measure used in economics to evaluate the
2 DEMAND RESPONSE CONCEPTS AND PROGRAMS
responsiveness of the demanded quantity of a good or service to a
Demand Response (DR) includes all intentional electricity change in its price, or the percentage change in quantity demanded
consumption pattern modifications by end-use customers that are on response to a one percent change in price [15]. In what
intended to alter the timing, level of instantaneous demand, or concerns electric loads, price elasticity is a normalized measure of
total electricity consumption [11] in response to changes in the the intensity of how usage of electricity changes when its price
price of electricity over time. Further, DR can be also defined as changes by one percent. In the opposite way, demand elasticity is
the incentive payments designed to induce lower electricity use at a measure of how price changes when usage of electricity
times of high wholesale market prices or when system reliability changes.
is jeopardized [12]. Demand price elasticity can be evaluated using (1),
An important advantage of demand response implementation where Quantity is the quantity of the usage of the good or
is the postponement of investments in generation resources and service and Price is the price of this good or service [16].
transmission/distribution lines. This is highly important when the 'Quantity and 'Price refer to the quantity of usage and price
generation is near its maximum capacity with exponentially variations respectively, between the periods before and after the
increasing generation costs. In these conditions, a small reduction implementation of DR programs.
in load will cause a big reduction in generation costs and,
therefore, a significant reduction in the price of electricity. 'Quantity
Usually the actions that result from demand side behavior or Quantity
H (1)
those that are intended to manage consumer behavior are referred 'Price
as DR, load management and Demand Side Management (DSM).
Traditionally these are seen as measures taken to encourage
Price
Demand response programs can be divided in two wide
consumers to reduce their electricity consumption during times of
groups: price-based demand response and incentive-based demand
especially high demand [13] and usually done through utility load
response [17].
management programs aiming essentially at obtaining peak
Price-based demand response is related with the changes in
reduction. Competitive electricity markets enable a wide set of
energy consumption by customers in response to variation in the
new opportunities for more strategic consumers’ behavior and
prices they pay. This group includes Time-Of-Use (TOU), Real
new models of demand response.
Time Pricing (RTP), and Critical-Peak Pricing (CPP) rates. For
Several studies have proved that loads are not rigid, exhibiting
different hours or time periods, if the price varies significantly,
elasticity that can be used for mutual benefits of power systems
customers can respond with changes in energy use. Response to
and consumers. Changes in electricity price over time and
price-based demand response programs is entirely voluntary.
incentive payments give place to increased demand flexibility as
TOU is a rate that includes different prices for usage during
end-use customers intentionally modify their electricity
different periods, usually defined for periods of 24 hours. This
consumption patterns as a response to exterior stimulus. DR can
rate reflects the average cost of generating and delivering power
be contracted over longer or shorter periods either as result of its
during each period.
inclusion in capacity markets or directly through bilateral
RTP is a rate in which the price of electricity is defined for
contracts.
shorter periods of time, usually one hour, reflecting changes in
DR, including Real time pricing, can be used as a means to
wholesale price of electricity. Customers usually have the
optimize distribution network operation, to reduce incident
information of prices on a day-head or hour-ahead basis.
consequences, and to reduce wind curtailment [14].
CPP is a hybrid of the TOU and RTP programs. The base
DR programs can be used both to increase and to decrease
program is TOU and a much higher peak pricing is used under
load demand. The use of DR to obtain a reduction in load
specified conditions (e.g. when system reliability is compromised
consumption in peak, congested, and/or incident periods is
or supply costs are very high).
favorable to distribution network operators relieving the network
Incentive-based demand response includes programs that give
components. In this way, important gains in reliability and service
customers incentives which may be fixed or time varying and that
quality, cost minimization, and even avoidance or deferral of
are complementary to their electricity rate. These can be
network investments can be achieved. In case of incidents, the
established by utilities, load-serving entities, or a regional grid
contracted load curtailment is expected to minimize the monetary
operator. Some of these programs penalize customers that fail the
global value of the non-supplied load. The increasing of wind
contractual response when a priori specified events are declared.
based electricity generation and the wind intermittent nature often
This group includes programs such as Direct Load Control (DLC),
Interruptible/Curtailable Service (ICS), Demand Bidding/Buyback
2
http :/ / w w w .gams.com /
(DBB), Emergency Demand Response (EDR), Capacity Market 3.1 Problem Formulation
(CM), and Ancillary Services Market (ASM) Programs. The problem to be solved consists in the optimal minimization
The expected responsibilities and functions of each player in a of the global costs from the point of view of electricity consumers,
deregulated electricity market are exposed in [18]. The authors regarding loads managed by a load aggregator. Problem
state that larger participation is required for DR to be viable in the characteristics lead to a non-linear model.
scope of electricity markets, and for this, it is required a more In practice, when a reduction in electricity consumption is
intensive collaboration between regulators and also between these, needed, the aggregator, based on the knowledge about consumers,
market participants, and market and system operators. raises the price of electricity expecting that consumers reduce the
[19] proposes a new complex-bid market-clearing mechanism usage of electricity. The objective fu nction can be expressed as
that considers price-sensitive bids made by consumers. The effect in (2) and is su bjected to several constraints.
of the increasing participation of demand-side on the various
categories of market participants is quantified. It is concluded that nc ª ELoad ( c ) ELoadRed ( c ) u º
the increase of demand shifting causes the reduction of market- Min Cost ¦ ««u » (2)
clearing prices, benefiting all bidders even if they do not c 1
¬ PriceEnergyInitial ( c ) Price
EnergyVar ( c ) ¼
»
participate in the shifting activities.
Direct Load Control (DLC) is a demand response model for The objective function (2) aims the minimization of the costs
which the utility is able to control customer equipment. This with the electricity consumption (i.e. the total amount consumers
control has shown positive results avoiding the use of additional pay for their electricity consumption), when a reduction in the
generation. Implemented models have been applied to air overall demand is required. These costs can be calculated based
conditioner and water heaters. However, some problems related on the final load demand (initial load demand minus demand
with the good functioning of the switches installed by the utility reduction value) and on the final price (initial price plus the price
have been reported. In future, with further implementation of the increment used to obtain the required consumption reduction).
smart-grid concept, with two way communication ability, it is Limitations are imposed to power (3) and price (4) values
expected that utilities have a better control over the target variations of each customer, according to the extent in which they
equipment. This is important since incentive payments are usually can and/or want to participate in the demand response program
monthly paid to the customers as fixed rates [20]. Although this and to their price elasticity. Power system operation requires the
concept is not in a state that can be presently considered as useful, balance between load and generation to be guaranteed at all times
utilities are planning to offer programs where price signals are (5).
given to customers through smart pricing programs. These signals The consideration of load response is formulated based on
are expected to give incentives to customers so that they make elasticity (6) values. Since the elasticity is considered as a fixed
their own investments in DR equipment [20]. and constant value for each load, the optimal relation between
The present paper proposes a methodology that considers the load and price variation is determined in the optimization. The
demand response to the electricity price variation imposed by the present study considers the obligation of having the same price
Distribution Network Operator (DNO) in the presence of a variation for the loads of the same type as expressed in (7).
reduction need due to any reason such as a lack of generation, or
high electricity market prices. The proposed method is based on PLoadRed ( c ) d MaxPLoadRed ( c ) (3)
the use of real time pricing. This price-responsive approach could
be adequate to fight the difficulties in the monthly fixed
remuneration programs, like DLC, and when the concept of smart PriceEnergyVar ( c ) d MaxPriceEnergyVar ( c ) (4)
grid is an initial stage of implementation.
nc nc
1. START
2. Initialization of parameters (maximum velocities, minimum
velocities, position limits, maximum iterations)
3. Random generation of initial values (swarm)
4. REPEAT
5. Reproduction: Each particle generates 1 new descendent
(movement, new position)
6. Evaluation: Each particle has its fitness value, according to its
current position in search space
7. Store the best solution of swarm
8. UNTIL termination criteria (Number of generations)
9. END PSO
5 CASE STUDIES
START
This section illustrates the use of the proposed methodology in
the developed demand response simulator DemSi. The case study
Network data considers a distribution network with 32 buses from [22] which
the authors evolved to 2040 in terms of load characterization [23].
All the results presented in this paper are obtained for two
Supply information scenarios – with 32 and with 320 consumers.
Network simulation 5.1 Case characterization
(PSCAD®) In the first scenario, with 32 consumers, the results are
Consumer
knowledge base obtained for a period for which the load demand is presented in
Table I. For the second scenario, there are 10 consumers in each
bus, corresponding to a total of 320 consumers. In this scenario,
Simulation
timeline events
the 10 loads connected to each bus have the total power presented
in Table I and are of the same load type. Table I also presents the
type of each consumer.
In both scenarios, it was considered that all the loads of the
Simulation same type have the same price variation during the application of
END timeline end demand response program. Each scenario and reduction need are
? solved by two approaches - with the developed PSO module and
Yes
with Non-Linear Programming (NLP) implemented in GAMS™;
results are compared in terms of time of execution and solutions
No
values.
Demand response The values of elasticity are 0.14, 0.12, 0.20, 0.28, and 0.38,
program management respectively for DM, SC, MC, LC, and IN consumers’ types. The
corresponding values for electricity price, which correspond to the
values of flat-rate tariff of retailer are 0.18, 0.19, 0.20, 0.16, and
Figure 1 – DemSi general architecture 0.12, in €/kWh.
As a restriction of the proposed formulation, a price cap and a
power cap are considered; these cap values can be parameterized
To fully attain our goals, PSCAD® is linked with for each case study. For this case study the price cap is equal to
MATLAB™(3) and GAMS™. These links allow using 150% of the value of energy price and the power cap is 15% of
programmed modules able to model the relevant players’ behavior the power consumption value for every customer.
and all the relationships among them, namely the contracts The demand response program use is triggered by a load
between each client and each supplier. The solution of the reduction required by the supplier. A set of seven reduction values
formulated optimization problem is found using MATLAB™ are considered for each scenario. For each reduction requirement,
and/or GAMS™. Using diverse approaches for solving the the energy price for each consumer type and the load reduction for
optimization problems, it is possible to derive the best approach each consumer are obtained as a result of the optimization
for each type of situation. problem.
Once the simulation is started, a simulation timeline is used to
feed DemSi with time tagged events. All the physical phenomena
related with the power system are simulated by PSCAD ®. The
management of DR programs is undertaken by a module
developed in MATLAB. The simulation end is determined by the
end of the simulation timeline.
Every time the simulator is initiated an initial state (e.g. value
of loads, state of breakers, etc.) is considered as the departing
simulation point. Once the simulation is launched, the supply
information and the consumer knowledge base have the required
information that allows optimizing demand response program use
over time, allowing simulation to go on. The demand response
programs management module optimizes the use of demand
response opportunities for each situation.
3
http :/ / w w w .mathw orks.com /
Bus Power (kW) Consumer Type Bus Power (kW) Consumer Type Bus Power (kW) Consumer Type
Figure 3(a), results for the major reduction need are grouped by considers both price and power cap and the power cap became
consumer type according to the nomenclature presented in section prevalent, limiting higher response from loads.
4. For this reduction need, all loads are required to participate. Finally, Figure 4 concerns the participation of loads in the
The slight differences between the two approaches solutions are demand response program, in the two scenarios. In general,
due to the fact that PSO is a stochastic method. As finding the comparing the results for the two scenarios, one can say that the
global optimum cannot be guaranteed, the obtained solution tends behavior is similar. In terms of the number of loads affected, the
to be a local optimum with an objective function value close to the PSO solutions tend to correspond to a more distributed
global optimum. Although the value obtained for the objective participation of the loads. For the loads that reached the maximum
function is close to the one obtained by the NLP approach, the power variation, NLP makes a rational management of loads,
solution itself can present some differences, namely in what scheduling loads like using an order of merit: the next load is used
concerns the consumers involved in the load reduction for each when the load under consideration has no more capacity. On the
specific DR event. In Figure 3(b), for each reduction need, the contrary, PSO spreads the variation among the loads, so the
maximum variation on energy price is compared with the maximum variation is not reached except for higher reduction
maximum allowed variation. In all results, the variations are needs when load variations are forced to the limit.
largely bellow the maximum permitted since the formulation
Figure 2 – Values of objective function for each approach and reduction needs, for each scenario ((a) - 32 loads; (b) - 320 loads)
Figure 3 – Detailed results for energy price variation, for 32 loads scenario: (a) – price variation in the major reduction need for each consumer,
grouped by consumer type; (b) – major energy price variation in comparison with the maximum permitted.
Figure 4 – Number of loads that have participated in DR program and the ones that reached maximum load variation, in function of reduction
need, for 32 loads scenario (a) and 320 loads scenario (b).
6 CONCLUSIONS REFERENCES
[1] Z. Vale, T. Pinto, I. Praça, H. Morais, "MASCEM - Electricity markets
This paper proposes a Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO)
simulation with strategically acting players", IEEE Intelligent Systems, vol. 26,
based methodology to address price-based demand response. The
n. 2, Special Issue on AI in Power Systems and Energy Markets, 2011.
model aims at minimizing the costs of electricity for the
[2] Y. Guan, M. Kezunovic, “Grid Monitoring and Market Risk Management”,
consumers when a consumption reduction is required by the
IEEE Intelligent Systems, vol. 26, n. 2, Special Issue on AI in Power Systems
energy supplier. and Energy Markets, 2011.
The proposed methodology has been implemented in the [3] J. Ferreira, S. Ramos, Z. Vale, J. Soares, “A Data-Mining-Based Methodology
scope of a demand response simulator (DemSi) developed by the for Transmission Expansion Planning”, IEEE Intelligent Systems, vol. 26, n. 2,
authors, in which PSCAD is used to undertake realistic power Special Issue on AI in Power Systems and Energy Markets, 2011.
system simulation. The results obtained with the proposed PSO [4] F. Rahimi, and A. Ipakchi, "Overview of Demand Response under the Smart
approach are compared with those obtained using a classic Non Grid and Market paradigms", Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT),
Linear Programming approach, leading to the conclusion that the 2010, Jan. 2010.
PSO approach presents relevant advantages, with running times [5] Z. Vale, H. Morais, and H. Khodr, “Intelligent Multi-Player Smart Grid
significantly lower. Management Considering Distributed Energy Resources and Demand
The paper presents the results of two case studies, with 32 and Response”, IEEE PES GM 2010, Minneapolis, July 2010.
with 320 consumers of different types: Domestic, Small [6] K.Y. Lee, and M.A. El-Sharkawi, “Modern heuristic optimization techniques:
Commerce, Medium Commerce, Large Commerce, Industrial. theory and applications to power systems”, Piscataway, N.J., IEEE Press,
The elasticity, which characterizes each consumer, has a great Hoboken, N.J. , Wiley-Interscience, 2008.
influence in the response of the loads to DR programs. [7] C. Ramos, C. Liu, “Intelligent Systems in Power Systems and Energy
In terms of the number of loads affected by DR, PSO solution Markets”, IEEE Intelligent Systems, vol. 26, n. 2, Special Issue on AI in Power
corresponds to a participation of more loads for each imposed Systems and Energy Markets, 2011.
[8] J. Kennedy, and R.C. Eberhart, “Particle Swarm Optimization”, IEEE
consumption reduction. PSO tends not to achieve the maximum
International Conference on Neural Networks Proceedings, pp. 1942-1948, vol.
load reduction for each consumer, spreading load reduction by
4, Dec. 1995.
more load types. Due to these reasons, the PSO leads to more
[9] E. Bonabeau, M. Dorigo, and G. Theraulaz, Swarm intelligence: From natural to
interesting solutions, allowing achieving the envisaged
artificial systems, Oxford University Press, 1999.
consumption needs involving a large number of participants, with
[10] M.R. AlRashidi, and M.E. El-Hawary, "A Survey of Particle Swarm
only a slightly increase of the total cost. Optimization Applications in Electric Power Systems", IEEE Transactions on
Evolutionary Computation, vol. 13, pp. 913-918, Aug. 2009.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS [11] D.S. Kirschen, "Demand-side view of electricity markets", IEEE Transactions
on Power Systems, vol. 18 Issue 2, pp. 520-527, May 2003.
The authors would like to acknowledge FCT, FEDER, POCTI,
[12] P.R. Thimmapuram, J. Kim, A. Botterud, and Y. Nam, "Modeling and
POSI, POCI, POSC, POTDC and COMPETE for their support to
simulation of price elasticity of demand using an agent-based model,"
R&D Projects and GECAD Unit.
Innovative Smart Grid Technologies (ISGT), 2010, Jan. 2010.
[13] L. Stuntz, Keeping the Lights On in a New World, tech. report, US DOE Electricity
Advisory Committee, Jan. 2009.
[14] Z. Vale, C. Ramos, H. Morais, P. Faria, and M. Silva, “The role of demand
response in future power systems,” Transmission and Distribution Conf. &
Exposition: Asia and Pacific (T&D), Seoul, Korea, Oct. 2009.
[15] R.A. Arnold, Economics, Cengage Learning, South-Western College Pub, 9th
ed., 2008.
[16] M.H. Albadi, and E.F. El-Saadany, “A summary of demand response in
electricity markets,” Electric Power Systems Research, vol. 78 Issue 11, pp.
1989-1996, Nov. 2008.
[17] J. Bushnell, B. Hobbs, F. Wolak, “When It Comes to Demand Response, Is
FERC Its Own Worst Enemy?”, The Electricity Journal, vol. 22 Issue 8, pp. 9-18,
Oct. 2009.
[18] L. A. Greening, “Demand response resources: Who is responsible for
implementation in a deregulated market?”, Energy, vol. 35 Issue 4, Demand
Response Resources: the US and International Experience, pp. 1518-1525, April
2010.
[19] K. Hamilton, N. Gulhar, "Taking Demand Response to the Next Level", Power
and Energy Magazine, IEEE , vol.8, no.3, pp.60-65, May-June 2010.
[20] S. Chua-Liang, D. Kirschen, "Quantifying the Effect of Demand Response on
Electricity Markets" IEEE Transactions on Power Systems, vol.24, no.3,
pp.1199-1207, Aug. 2009.
[21] A. Engelbrecht, Computational Intelligence: An Introduction, John Wiley & Sons,
Ltd, 2007.
[22] M. Baran, and F. Wu, “Network reconfiguration in distribution systems for
loss reduction and load balancing”, IEEE Transactions on Power Delivery,
vol.4, no.2, pp.1401-1407, Apr. 1989.
[23] P. Faria, Z. Vale and J. Ferreira, “DemSi – A Demand Response Simulator in
the context of intensive use of Distributed Generation”, Proc. 2010 IEEE
International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC 2010),
Istanbul, Oct. 2010.
AUTHORS
Zita Vale is the director of the Knowledge Engineering and Decision Support
Research Group (GECAD) and a tenured Coordinator Professor at the School of
Engineering of the Polytechnic of Porto. Her main research interests concern AI
applications to power system operation and control, electricity markets, and
distributed generation. Vale has a PhD degree in Electrical and Computer
Engineering from University of Porto, Portugal. Contact her at zav@isep.ipp.pt.