Residential demand management in smart grids

Abstract

The new generation of electricity grid, the Smart Grid, has the promise to bring further efficiency, security and reliability to the power system. With the integration of commu­nication network, smart meters and other intelligent technologies, power companies can develop demand response programs that allow their customers to participate in the power market. Smart meters usually collect electricity consumption data at hourly basis. The data can not reveal the true inter-hour electricity-use dynamics, which is important in demand response programs. The first part of this thesis studies two different metering approaches, i.e. interval metering & threshold metering, with the hope to enlighten the metering con­figuration for future smart meters. The second part of this thesis directly compares the demand response potential contributed by a pool of cooling devices with two different con­trol mechanisms, e.g. direct compressor control & thermostat set-point control. Finally, this thesis also proposes a new damping technique used to reduce the demand oscillation created in demand response.