Demand Response

Abstract

This chapter introduces the concept of demand response, that is, flexible loads that can respond to the needs of the electric power system by changing their demand for power. It describes a broad range of services that demand response services can provide to the grid and provides a basis for estimating their value to today's grid operations. The nature of electrical loads in buildings is described including sources of information for estimating end‐use load shapes and key characteristics of building/customer populations. The basic physics of demand response from building cooling loads is described, as are the techniques and tools used to analyze the technical potential of demand response potential and design the control and coordination schemes to dispatch it. Prototypical analyses are presented that illustrate some of the fundamental challenges of developing such schemes. The chapter concludes with a description of various types of programs used by utilities and aggregators to engage customers and realize value from demand response.