Shifting of thermal and schedulable loads based on abstract cost profiles

Abstract

This paper presents a demand-side management approach based on cost profiles which are abstract in the sense that they not represent monetary costs, but aggregate information from several sources like tariffs, wind forecast or grid operator demand control signals. In particular, it is shown how these cost profiles are used for local control of thermal (e.g. freezers) and schedulable loads (e.g. washing machines). Also, different variants for the global control in terms of protocols are discussed where a central energy management unit compiles these cost profiles depending not only on outside information, but also on load forecasts and load plans compiled locally at the appliances. © 2012 IEEE.