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Energy systems around the world are going through tremendous transformations, mainly driven by carbon footprint reductions and related policy imperatives and low-carbon technological development. These transformations pose unprecedented technical challenges to the energy sector, but they also bring opportunities for energy systems to develop, adapt, and evolve. With rising complexity and increased digitalization, there has been significant growth in the amount of data in the power/energy sector (data ranging from power grid to household levels). Utilization of this large data (or "big data"), along with the use of proper data analytics, will allow for useful insights to be drawn that will help energy systems to deliver an increased amount of technical, operational, economic, and environmental benefits. This paper reviews various categories of data available in the current and future energy systems and the potential benefits of utilizing those data categories in energy system planning and operation. This paper also discusses the Big Data Analytics (BDA) that can be used to process/analyze the data and extract useful information that can be integrated and used in energy systems. More specifically, this paper discusses typical applications of BDA in energy systems, including how BDA can be used to resolve the critical issues faced by the current and future energy network operations and how BDA contributes to the development of smarter and more flexible energy systems. Combining data characterization and analysis methods, this review paper presents BDA as a powerful tool for making electrical energy systems smarter, more responsive, and more resilient to changes in operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distribution systems in traditional power systems (PS) constituted of passive elements and the distribution issues were then limited to voltage and thermal constraints, harmonics, overloading and unbalanced loading, reactive power compensation issues, faults and transients, loss minimization and frequency stability problems, to name a few. Contemporary distribution systems are becoming active distributed networks (ADNs) that integrate a substantially increasing amount of distributed energy resources (DERs). DERS include distributed generation (DG) sources, energy storage resources and demand side management (DSM) options. Despite their evidenced great benefits, the large-scale deployment and integration of DERs remain a challenge as they subsequently lead to the network operational and efficiency issues, hampering PS network reliability and stability. This paper carries out a comprehensive literature survey based on the last decade's research on operational challenges reported and focusing on dispatchable and non-dispatchable DGs grid integration, on various demand response (DR) mechanisms and, on battery energy storage system (BESS) charging and discharging challenges, with the aim to pave the way to developing suitable optimization techniques that will solve the coordination of multiple renewable sources, storage systems and DRs to minimize distribution systems' operational issues and thus improve stability and reliability. This paper's findings assist the researchers in the field to conduct further research and to help PS planners and operators decide on appropriate relevant technologies that address challenges inherent to DG grid integration. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distributed energy resources have been increasingly integrated into electrical grids. Consequently, electricity markets are expected to undergo changes and become more complex. However, while there are many scientific publications on the topic, a broader discussion is still necessary. Therefore, a systematic literature review on electricity markets in the context of distributed energy resources integration was conducted in this paper to present in-depth discussions on the topic, along with shedding light on current perspectives, the most relevant sources, authors, papers, countries, metrics, and indexes. The software R and its open-source tool Bibliometrix were used to perform the systematic literature review based on the widely recognized databases Web of Science and Scopus, which led to a total of 1685 articles after removing duplicates. The results demonstrate that demand response, renewable energy, uncertainty, optimization, and smart grid are the most-used keywords. By assessing highly impactful articles on the theme, emphasis on energy storage systems becomes clear compared to distributed generation and electric vehicles. However, electric vehicles draw attention in terms of citations. Furthermore, multi-level stochastic programming is the most-applied methodology among highly impactful articles. Due to the relevance of the demand response keyword, this paper also conducts a specific review on the topic aligned with electricity markets and distributed energy resources (296 articles). The results demonstrate that virtually all high-impact publications on the topic address day-ahead or real-time pricing. Based on the literature found, this paper presents a discussion on the main challenges and future perspectives related to the field. The complexity of electrical power systems and electricity markets is increasing substantially according to what this study found. Distributed generation development is already advanced, while energy storage systems and electric vehicles are limited in many countries. Peer-to-peer electricity trading and virtual power plant are newer concepts that are currently incipient, and DR programs showcase an intermediate stage of evolution. A particular lack of research on social issues is verified, and also a lack of all-encompassing studies that address multiple interconnected topics, which should be better addressed in the future. The in-depth assessment carried out in this paper is expected to be of high value to researchers and policy-makers and facilitate future research on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rising cost and demand for energy have prompted the need to devise innovative methods for energy monitoring, control, and conservation. In addition, statistics show that 20% of energy losses are due to the mismanagement of energy. Therefore, the utilization of energy management can make a substantial contribution to reducing the unnecessary usage of energy consumption. In line with that, the intelligent control and optimization of energy management systems integrated with renewable energy resources and energy storage systems are required to increase building energy efficiency while considering the reduction in the cost of energy bills, dependability of the grid, and mitigating carbon emissions. Even though a variety of optimization and control tactics are being utilized to reduce energy consumption in buildings nowadays, several issues remain unsolved. Therefore, this paper presents a critical review of energy management in commercial buildings and a comparative discussion to improve building energy efficiency using both active and passive solutions, which could lead to net-zero energy buildings. This work also explores different optimum energy management controller objectives and constraints concerning user comfort, energy policy, data privacy, and security. In addition, the review depicts prospective future trends and issues for developing an effective building energy management system, which may play an unavoidable part in fulfilling the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quality in healthcare service is essential in giving rural dwellers a good standard of living. It has been established that many rural locations in Sub-Saharan Africa away from the grid connection have difficulty accessing electricity. The inaccessibility of reliable energy and essential medical equipment was the leading barrier to improved healthcare delivery in these rural locations. The deficiency of basic medical equipment to power essential services due to limited or unreliable electricity access has reduced rural healthcare workers' care capabilities, resulting in higher mortality rates. This paper, therefore, reviews the existing energy solutions for rural healthcare facilities, thereby analysing different approaches and the geographical energy mix and ascertaining the effectiveness of various techniques and energy mix as solutions to effective healthcare delivery in healthcare centres. Hybrid Renewable Energy Sources (HRES) microsystems, like microgrids incorporated with solar panels and battery, is identified to ensure higher and more reliable energy access in rural healthcare centres. At the same time, the adoption of Demand Side Management (DSM) in the HRES deployment in countryside healthcare facilities is reported to decrease the initial cost of installation and improve efficiency. Lastly, in improving energy access, rural electrification planning is achieved through modelling tools related to energy access modelling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Microgrids using renewable energy sources play an important role in providing universal electricity access in rural areas in the Global South. Current methods of system dimensioning rely on stochastic load profile modeling, which has limitations in microgrids with industrial consumers due to high demand side uncertainties. In this paper, we propose an alternative approach considering demand side management during system design which we implemented using a genetic scheduling algorithm. The developed method is applied to a test case system on Idjwi Island, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), which is to be powered by a micro hydropower plant (MHP) in combination with a photovoltaic (PV) system and a battery energy storage system (BESS). The results show that the increased flexibility of industrial consumers can significantly reduce the cost of electricity. Most importantly, the presented method quantifies the trade-off between electricity cost and consumer flexibility. This gives local stakeholders the ability to make an informed compromise and design an off-grid system that covers their electricity needs in the most cost-efficient way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of the high dependency on fossil fuels, the strong efforts aiming to shift towards a more sustainable world are having significant economic and political impacts. The electricity market is now encouraging prosumers to consume their own production, and thus reduce grid exchanges. Self-consumption can be increased using storage systems or rescheduling the loads. This effort involves not only residential prosumers but also industrial ones. The rescheduling process is an optimisation problem that can be effectively solved with evolutionary algorithms (EAs). In this paper, a specific procedure for bridging demand-side management from the theoretical application to a practical industrial scenario was introduced. In particular, the toroidal correction was used in the differential evolution with the aim of preventing the local minima worsening the effectiveness of the proposed method. Moreover, to achieve reasonable solutions, two different cost contributions have been considered: the energy cost and the labour cost. The method was tested on real data from a historical textile factory, Ratti S.p.A. Due to the nature of the loads, the design variables were the starting time of the 30 shiftable loads. The application of this procedure achieves a reduction in the total cost of approximately 99,500 EUR/year. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Application of sensors in the smart grid has promoted the development of demand side management (DSM). However, the incentives of DSM such as peak–valley time-of-use (TOU) price will change the load pattern in the future; the substation capacity sizing will be further influenced accordingly. This paper proposes a substation capacity sizing method in distribution network considering DSM and establishes a peak-valley TOU pricing method based on the cost–benefit analysis of each participant in the TOU price. Compared with the conventional fixed peak–valley ratio, a dynamic division method is proposed to calculate the optimal pull-off ratio for the TOU pricing. By considering the proposed TOU pricing method, a substation capacity sizing model for the distribution network is further proposed. Finally, the economic benefits of the two substation capacity sizing schemes are compared and evaluated according to the selected economic indicators. The results of the case study demonstrate that under the premise of reasonable pricing, considering the impact of TOU on substation capacity sizing, the construction investment and the user cost of power supply companies can be saved while meeting the power demand. The economy and rationality of the planning scheme have been significantly improved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the response and characteristics of the narrowband power line communication (NB-PLC) technique for the effective control of electric appliances such as smart air conditioners (SACs) for demand side management (DSM) services. The expression for temperature sensitivity by examining the influence of atmospheric temperature variations on power consumption profile of all possible types of loads, i.e., residential, commercial, and industrial loads is derived and analyzed. Comprehensive field measurements on these power consumers are carried out in Lahore, Pakistan. The responses of low voltage channels, medium voltage channels, and transformer bridge for a 3–500 kHz NB-PLC frequency range are presented for DSM services. The master control room transmits control commands for the thermostat settings of SACs over power lines, crossing the transformer bridge to reach the SACs of power consumers by using communication protocol smart energy profile 1.0. The comparison of hourly and daily power consumption profiles under evaluation loads, by analyzing typical and variable frequency air conditioners on setting thermostat temperature at 25 °C and 27 °C conventionally and then by using DSM control technique, is analyzed. A prominent reduction in power consumption is found with the implementation of the DSM control technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electric power utilities across the globe are facing higher demand for electricity than ever before, while juggling to balance environmental conservation with transmission corridor expansions. Demand side management (DSM) and dynamic thermal rating systems (DTR) play an important role in alleviating some of the challenges faced by electric power utilities. In this paper, various DSM measures are explored and their interactions with the application of the DTR system in the transmission network are examined. The proposed modelling of DSM in this paper implements load shifting on load demand curves from the system, bus and load sector levels. The correlation effects of line ratings are considered in the DTR system modelling as the weather that influences line ratings is also correlated. The modelling of the line ratings was performed using the time series method, the auto regressive moving average (ARMA) model. Both the DSM and the DTR systems were implemented on the modified IEEE reliability test network. The modification was achieved by developing a load model starting from the perspective of the load sectors at each bus and a new collective hourly load curve for the system was obtained by combining the loads at all buses. Finally, the results in this paper elucidate the interaction of DSM and DTR systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The penetration of various types of renewable sources and on-site storage devices have recently focused attention towards DC power distribution in consumer grids to achieve the target of zero/positive energy buildings and communities. To achieve this target, the most important component is the DC consumer grid architecture which can integrate not only renewable sources and storage, but also enable the implementation in any conventional AC distribution network without any significant upgrade. To this end, a unique DC Transformer enabled DC microgrid architecture is presented in this paper. The architecture, called PCmRC (power controlling monitoring routing center) is proposed to manage distributed energy sources and storage at any stage and also directly interconnects the DC consumer grid with the conventional AC power grid. This paper also investigates detailed control algorithms of each component and the DC Transformer topology in addition to proposing four unique stages of grid operational modes to enhance the overall grid stability in any operational condition. The main objectives are to maximize the exploitation of renewable sources, to decrease reliance on fossil fuels, to boost the overall efficiency of the grid by reducing the power conversion losses and demand side management in all possible forms. The simulation platform is designed in MATLAB/Simulink. Simulation results of several types of case studies show the effectiveness of the proposed power distribution and management model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy efficient prosumer microgrids (PMGs) with active and flexible demand side management (DSM) mechanisms are considered to be crucial elements of future smart grids. Due to an increasing share of renewable energy and the growing power demand, appropriate tools to manage not only the loads but also small generation units, heating and cooling systems, storage units and electric vehicles should be provided for them. Therefore, this paper proposes an innovative approach to both physical and logical organization of an active DSM system for future building-integrated prosumer microgrids (BIPMGs), based on standard building automation and control systems (BACS) as well as Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm. New event-triggered control functions with developed universal, logical interfaces for open BACS and IoT network nodes are presented and their implementation in smart metering as well as fully integrated energy management mechanisms is analyzed. Finally, potential energy efficiency improvements with proposed BACS functions are discussed, based on BACS efficiency requirements defined in the EN 15232 standard. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a smart grid, several optimization techniques have been developed to schedule load in the residential area. Most of these techniques aim at minimizing the energy consumption cost and the comfort of electricity consumer. Conversely, maintaining a balance between two conflicting objectives: energy consumption cost and user comfort is still a challenging task. Therefore, in this paper, we aim to minimize the electricity cost and user discomfort while taking into account the peak energy consumption. In this regard, we implement and analyse the performance of a traditional dynamic programming (DP) technique and two heuristic optimization techniques: genetic algorithm (GA) and binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO) for residential load management. Based on these techniques, we propose a hybrid scheme named GAPSO for residential load scheduling, so as to optimize the desired objective function. In order to alleviate the complexity of the problem, the multi dimensional knapsack is used to ensure that the load of electricity consumer will not escalate during peak hours. The proposed model is evaluated based on two pricing schemes: day-ahead and critical peak pricing for single and multiple days. Furthermore, feasible regions are calculated and analysed to develop a relationship between power consumption, electricity cost, and user discomfort. The simulation results are compared with GA, BPSO and DP, and validate that the proposed hybrid scheme reflects substantial savings in electricity bills with minimum user discomfort. Moreover, results also show a phenomenal reduction in peak power consumption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart grid is an emerging technology which is considered to be an ultimate solution to meet the increasing power demand challenges. Modern communication technologies have enabled the successful implementation of smart grid (SG), which aims at provision of demand side management mechanisms (DSM), such as demand response (DR). In this paper, we propose a hybrid technique named as teacher learning genetic optimization (TLGO) by combining genetic algorithm (GA) with teacher learning based optimization (TLBO) algorithm for residential load scheduling, assuming that electric prices are announced on a day-ahead basis. User discomfort is one of the key aspects which must be addressed along with cost minimization. The major focus of this work is to minimize consumer electricity bill at minimum user discomfort. Load scheduling is formulated as an optimization problem and an optimal schedule is achieved by solving the minimization problem. We also investigated the effect of power-flexible appliances on consumers' bill. Furthermore, a relationship among power consumption, cost and user discomfort is also demonstrated by feasible region. Simulation results validate that our proposed technique performs better in terms of cost reduction and user discomfort minimization, and is able to obtain the desired trade-off between consumer electricity bill and user discomfort. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased deployment of variable renewable energy (VRE) has posed significant challenges to ensure reliable power system operations. As VRE penetration increases beyond 80%, the power system will require long duration energy storage and flexibility. Detailed uncertainty analysis, identifying challenges, and opportunities to provide sufficient flexibility will help to achieve smooth operations of power system networks during the scenario of high share of VRE sources. Hence, this paper presents a comprehensive overview of the power system flexibility (PSF). The intention of this review is to provide a wide spectrum of power system flexibility, PSF drivers, PSF resources, PSF provisions, methods used for assessment of flexibility and flexibility planning to the researchers, academicians, power system planners, and engineers working on the integration of VRE into the utility grid to achieve high share of these sources. More than 100 research papers on the basic concepts of PSF, drivers of the PSF, resources of PSF, requirement of the PSF, metrics used for assessment of the flexibility, methods and approaches used for measurement of flexibility level in network of the power system, and methods used for the PSF planning and flexibility provisions have been thoroughly reviewed and classified for quick reference considering different dimensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, a multi-objective optimization method based on the normal boundary intersection is proposed to solve the dynamic economic dispatch with demand side management of individual residential loads and electric vehicles. The proposed approach specifically addresses consumer comfort through acceptable appliance deferral times and electric vehicle charging requirements. The multi-objectives of minimizing generation costs, emissions, and energy loss in the system are balanced in a Pareto front approach in which a fuzzy decision making method has been implemented to find the best compromise solution based on desired system operating conditions. The normal boundary intersection method is described and validated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditional power grid and its demand-side management (DSM) techniques are centralized and mainly focus on industrial consumers. The ignorance of residential and commercial sectors in DSM activities degrades the overall performance of a conventional grid. Therefore, the concept of DSM and demand response (DR) via residential sector makes the smart grid (SG) superior over the traditional grid. In this context, this paper proposes an optimized home energy management system (OHEMS) that not only facilitates the integration of renewable energy source (RES) and energy storage system (ESS) but also incorporates the residential sector into DSM activities. The proposed OHEMS minimizes the electricity bill by scheduling the household appliances and ESS in response to the dynamic pricing of electricity market. First, the constrained optimization problem is mathematically formulated by using multiple knapsack problems, and then solved by using the heuristic algorithms; genetic algorithm (GA), binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO), wind driven optimization (WDO), bacterial foraging optimization (BFO) and hybrid GA-PSO (HGPO) algorithms. The performance of the proposed scheme and heuristic algorithms is evaluated via MATLAB simulations. Results illustrate that the integration of RES and ESS reduces the electricity bill and peak-to-average ratio (PAR) by 19.94% and 21.55% respectively. Moreover, the HGPO algorithm based home energy management system outperforms the other heuristic algorithms, and further reduces the bill by 25.12% and PAR by 24.88%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, demand side management (DSM) techniques have been designed for residential, industrial and commercial sectors. These techniques are very effective in flattening the load profile of customers in grid area networks. In this paper, a heuristic algorithms-based energy management controller is designed for a residential area in a smart grid. In essence, five heuristic algorithms (the genetic algorithm (GA), the binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO) algorithm, the bacterial foraging optimization algorithm (BFOA), the wind-driven optimization (WDO) algorithm and our proposed hybrid genetic wind-driven (GWD) algorithm) are evaluated. These algorithms are used for scheduling residential loads between peak hours (PHs) and off-peak hours (OPHs) in a real-time pricing (RTP) environment while maximizing user comfort (UC) and minimizing both electricity cost and the peak to average ratio (PAR). Moreover, these algorithms are tested in two scenarios: (i) scheduling the load of a single home and (ii) scheduling the load of multiple homes. Simulation results show that our proposed hybrid GWD algorithm performs better than the other heuristic algorithms in terms of the selected performance metrics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shares of renewables continue to grow in the European power system. A fully renewable European power system will primarily depend on the renewable power sources of wind and photovoltaics (PV), which are not dispatchable but intermittent and therefore pose a challenge to the balancing of the power system. To overcome this issue, several solutions have been proposed and investigated in the past, including storage, backup power, reinforcement of the transmission grid, and demand side management (DSM). In this paper, we investigate the potential of DSM to balance a simplified, fully renewable European power system. For this purpose, we use ten years of weather and historical load data, a power-flow model and the implementation of demand side management as a storage equivalent, to investigate the impact of DSM on the need for backup energy. We show that DSM has the potential to reduce the need for backup energy in Europe by up to one third and can cover the need for backup up to a renewable share of 67%. Finally, it is demonstrated that the optimal mix of wind and PV is shifted by the utilisation of DSM towards a higher share of PV, from 19% to 36%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents real time information based energy management algorithms to reduce electricity cost and peak to average ratio (PAR) while preserving user comfort in a smart home. We categorize household appliances into thermostatically controlled (tc), user aware (ua), elastic (el), inelastic (iel) and regular (r) appliances/loads. An optimization problem is formulated to reduce electricity cost by determining the optimal use of household appliances. The operational schedules of these appliances are optimized in response to the electricity price signals and customer preferences to maximize electricity cost saving and user comfort while minimizing curtailed energy. Mathematical optimization models of tc appliances, i.e., air-conditioner and refrigerator, are proposed which are solved by using intelligent programmable communication thermostat ( iPCT). We add extra intelligence to conventional programmable communication thermostat (CPCT) by using genetic algorithm (GA) to control tc appliances under comfort constraints. The optimization models for ua, el, and iel appliances are solved subject to electricity cost minimization and PAR reduction. Considering user comfort, el appliances are considered where users can adjust appliance waiting time to increase or decrease their comfort level. Furthermore, energy demand of r appliances is fulfilled via local supply where the major objective is to reduce the fuel cost of various generators by proper scheduling. Simulation results show that the proposed algorithms efficiently schedule the energy demand of all types of appliances by considering identified constraints (i.e., PAR, variable prices, temperature, capacity limit and waiting time). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Many new demand response strategies are emerging for energy management in smart grids. Real-Time Energy Pricing (RTP) is one important aspect of consumer Demand Side Management (DSM), which encourages consumers to participate in load scheduling. This can help reduce peak demand and improve power system efficiency. The use of Intelligent Decision Support Systems (IDSSs) for load scheduling has become necessary in order to enable consumers to respond to the changing economic value of energy across different hours of the day. The type of scheduling problem encountered by a consumer IDSS is typically NP-hard, which warrants the search for good heuristics with efficient computational performance and ease of implementation. This paper presents an extensive evaluation of a heuristic scheduling algorithm for use in a consumer IDSS. A generic cost model for hourly pricing is utilized, which can be configured for traditional on/off peak pricing, RTP, Time of Use Pricing (TOUP), Two-Tier Pricing (2TP) and combinations thereof. The heuristic greedily schedules controllable appliances to minimize smart appliance energy costs and has a polynomial worst-case computation time. Extensive computational experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the algorithm and the obtained results indicate the gaps between the optimal achievable costs are negligible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To integrate large-scale renewable energy into energy systems, an effective participation from private investors and active customer engagement are essential. Virtual power plants (VPPs) are a very promising approach. To realize this engagement, an efficient monitoring and control system needs to be implemented for the VPP to be flexible, scalable, secure, and cost-effective. In this paper, a realistic VPP in Western Australia is studied, comprising 67 dwellings, including a 810 kW rooftop solar photovoltaic (PV) system, a 700 kWh vanadium redox flow battery (VRFB), a heat pump hot water system (HWS), an electric vehicle (EV) charging station, and demand management mechanisms. The practical and detailed concept design of the monitoring and control system for EEBUS-enabled appliances, and also for the PV and VRFB system, with smart inverters, is proposed. In addition, a practical fog-based storage and computing system is developed to enable the VPP owner to manage the PV, VRFB, and EV charging station for maximizing the benefit to the customers and the VPP owner. Further, the proposed cloud-based applications enable customers to participate in gamified demand response programs for increasing the level of their engagement while satisfying their comfort level. All proposed systems and architecture in this paper have the capability of being implemented fully and relevant references for practical devices are given where necessary. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plug-in electric vehicle (PEV) has attracted more and more attention because of the energy crisis and environmental pollution, which is also the main shiftable load of the residential users' demand side management (DSM) system in the future smart grid (SG). In this paper, we employ game theory to provide an autonomous energy management system among residential users considering selling energy back to the utility company by discharging the PEV's battery. By assuming all users are equipped with smart meters to execute automatic energy consumption scheduling (ECS) and the energy company can adopt adequate pricing tariffs relating to time and level of energy usage, we formulate an energy management game, where the players are the residential users and the strategies are their daily schedules of household appliance use. We will show that the Nash equilibrium of the formulated energy management game can guarantee the global optimization in terms of minimizing the energy costs, where the depreciation cost of PEV's battery because of discharging and selling energy back is also considered. Simulation results verify that the proposed game-theoretic approach can reduce the total energy cost and individual daily electricity payment. Moreover, since plug-in electric bicycles (PEBs) are currently widely used in China, simulation results of residential users owing household appliances and bidirectional energy trading of PEBs are also provided and discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Smart grid (SG) is a next-generation grid which is responsible for changing the lifestyle of modern society. It avoids the shortcomings of traditional grids by incorporating new technologies in the existing grids. In this paper, we have presented SG in detail with its features, advantages, and architecture. The demand side management techniques used in smart grid are also presented. With the wide usage of domestic appliances in homes, the residential users need to optimize the appliance scheduling strategies. These strategies require the consumer's flexibility and awareness. Optimization of the power demand for home appliances is a challenge faced by both utility and consumers, particularly during peak hours when the consumption of electricity is on the higher side. Therefore, utility companies have introduced various time-varying incentives and dynamic pricing schemes that provides different rates of electricity at different times depending on consumption. The residential appliance scheduling problem (RASP) is the problem of scheduling appliances at appropriate periods considering the pricing schemes. The objectives of RASP are to minimize electricity cost (EC) of users, minimize the peak-to-average ratio (PAR), and improve the user satisfaction (US) level by minimizing waiting times for the appliances. Various methods have been studied for energy management in residential sectors which encourage the users to schedule their appliances efficiently. This paper aims to give an overview of optimization techniques for residential appliance scheduling. The reviewed studies are classified into classical techniques, heuristic approaches, and meta-heuristic algorithms. Based on this overview, the future research directions are proposed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As on many other European islands, the energy system of Mayotte suffers from low reliability of supply, low share of renewable energies, and high costs of supply. Residential Demand Response (DR) schemes can significantly increase the flexibility of the inherent weak power grid, increasing the potential for renewable energy integration. Given that active involvement of the population is required to unlock the potential of DR, pre-assessing the population's preferences in DR is vital to tailor favorable schemes and assure long-term uptake of the solution. As a fundamental study, this paper assesses the population's preferences on direct load control (DLC), electricity tariffs, major motivation, and remuneration goods by processing findings from a survey of 146 residents on Mayotte. Advanced k-means cluster analysis, multinomial logistic regression, one-way analysis of variance, and Chi-square tests were applied to the survey responses to identify socio-demographic influencers. The results indicate four distinct groups of people concerning their interest in DR schemes, with increasing age being a significant predictor for higher interest. Interest in DLC varies with the device/appliance controlled and socio-demographic characteristics. The preferred tariffs correspond to the results of previous literature. Financial incentives play a subordinate role in the main motivation for participation compared to social and environmental attractions as well as non-monetary remuneration goods, supporting the impression of a high sense of community and suitability of islands as laboratories for energy innovations. Follow-up studies must reflect on the ability/willingness to pay as well as the current state of awareness and knowledge of electricity supply to validate speculations on underlying reasons for DR preferences and flag constraints for the DR scheme implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The high penetration of renewable power generators and various loads have brought a great challenge for dispatching energy in a microgrid system. Heating ventilation air conditioning (HVAC) system, as a household appliance with high popularity, can be considered as an effective technology to alleviate energy dispatch issues. This paper presents novel distributed algorithms based on HVAC to solve the demand side management problem, where the microgrid system with HVAC units is considered as a multi-agent system (MAS). The approach provides a desirable operating frequency signal for each HVAC based on the power mismatch value occurring on each local bus. It utilizes demand response of the HVAC units to minimize the supply-demand mismatch, thus reducing the quantity and capacity of energy storage devices potentially to be required. Compared with existing approaches focusing on the distributed algorithms under a fixed communication network, this paper addresses a consensus problem under a switching topology by using the Lyapunov argument. It is verified that a jointly strong and connected topology is a sufficient condition in order to achieve an average consensus for a time-varying topology. A number of cases are studied to evaluate the effectiveness of the algorithms by taking into account its power constraints, dynamic behaviors, anti-damage characteristics and time-varying communication topology. Modelling these system interactions has demonstrated the feasibility of the proposed microgrid system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the increase of renewable energy in electricity generation and increased engagement from demand sides, distribution network planning and operation face great challenges in the provision of stable, secure and dedicated service under a high level of uncertainty in network behaviors. Distribution network planning and operation, at the same time, also benefit from the changes of current and future distribution networks in terms of the availability of increased resources, diversity, smartness, controllability and flexibility of the distribution networks. This paper reviews the critical optimization problems faced by distribution planning and operation, including how to cope with these changes, how to integrate an optimization process in a problem-solving framework to efficiently search for optimal strategy and how to optimize sources and flexibilities properly in order to achieve cost-effective operation and provide quality of services as required, among other factors. This paper also discusses the approaches to reduce the heavy computation load when solving large-scale network optimization problems, for instance by integrating the prior knowledge of network configuration in optimization search space. A number of optimization techniques have been reviewed and discussed in the paper. This paper also discusses the changes, challenges and opportunities in future distribution networks, analyzes the possible problems that will be faced by future network planning and operations and discusses the potential strategies to solve these optimization problems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we proposed a home energy management system (HEMS) that includes photovoltaic (PV), electric vehicle (EV), and energy storage systems (ESS). The proposed HEMS fully utilizes the PV power in operating domestic appliances and charging EV/ESS. The surplus power is fed back to the grid to achieve economic benefits. A novel charging and discharging scheme of EV/ESS is presented to minimize the energy cost, control the maximum load demand, increase the battery life, and satisfy the user's-traveling needs. The EV/ESS charges during low pricing periods and discharges in high pricing periods. In the proposed method, a multi-objective problem is formulated, which simultaneously minimizes the energy cost, peak to average ratio (PAR), and customer dissatisfaction. The multi-objective optimization is solved using binary particle swarm optimization (BPSO). The results clearly show that it minimizes the operating cost from 402.89 cents to 191.46 cents, so that a reduction of 52.47% is obtained. Moreover, it reduces the PAR and discomfort index by 15.11% and 16.67%, respectively, in a 24 h time span. Furthermore, the home has home to grid (H2G) capability as it sells the surplus energy, and the total cost is further reduced by 29.41%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The growing demand for electricity runs counter to European-level goals, which include activities aimed at sustainable development and environmental protection. In this context, efficient consumption of electricity attracts much research interest nowadays. One environment friendly solution to meet increased demand lies in the deployment of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in the network and in mobilizing the active participation of consumers in reducing the peak of demand, thus smoothing the overall load curve. This paper addresses the issue of efficient and economical use of electricity from the Demand Side Management (DSM) perspective and presents an implementation of a fully-parameterized and explicitly constrained incentive-based demand response program The program uses the Particle Swarm Optimization algorithm and demonstrates the potential advantages of integrating RES while supporting two-way communication between energy production and consumption and two-way power exchange between the main grid and the RES. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a methodology for determining the optimal portfolio allocation for a demand response aggregator. The formulation is based on Day-Ahead electricity prices, in which the aggregator coordinates a set of residential consumers that are recruited through contracts. Four types of contracts are analyzed, considering both direct and indirect demand response programs. The objective is to compare different scenarios for contract portfolios in order to establish the benefits of each market agent. An optimization problem is formulated to capture the interactions between the aggregator and end consumers. The model is formulated as a mathematical program with equilibrium constraints: At the upper level, the aggregator maximizes its benefits, whereas the lower level represents the consumers' contracts. By applying the developed methodology, the characterization of the consumers' behavior is established in order to forecast their responses to the generation of punctual incentives, both for usual scenarios and peak events, as well as to evaluate the impact that direct and indirect control contracts have on the performance of the aggregator as the energy price varies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Apart from numerous technical challenges, the transition towards a carbon-neutral energy supply is greatly hindered by limited economic feasibility of renewable energy sources. This results in their slow and bounded penetration in both commercial and residential sectors that are responsible for over 40% of final energy consumption. This paper aims to demonstrate that combined application of sophisticated planning methodologies at building-level and presents incentive mechanisms for renewables that can result in prosumers, featuring hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES), with economic performance comparable to that of conventional energy systems. The presented research enhances existing planning methodologies by integrating appliance-level demand side management into the decision process and investigates its effect on the planning problem. Moreover, the proposed methodology features an innovative and holistic approach that simultaneously assess electrical and thermal domain in both an isolated and grid-connected context. The analyzed hybrid system consists of solar photovoltaic, wind turbine and battery with thermal supply featuring solar thermal collector and a ground-source heat pump. Overall optimization problem is modeled as a mixed-integer linear program, while ranking of all feasible alternatives is made by the multicriteria decision-making algorithm against several technological, economic, and environmental criteria. A real-life scenario of energy system retrofit for a building in the United Kingdom was employed to demonstrate overall cost savings of 12% in the present market and regulation context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

If left uncontrolled, electric vehicle charging poses severe challenges to distribution grid operation. Resulting issues are expected to be mitigated by charging control. In particular, voltage-based charging control, by relying only on the local measurements of voltage at the point of connection, provides an autonomous communication-free solution. The controller, attached to the charging equipment, compares the measured voltage to a reference voltage and adapts the charging power using a droop control characteristic. We present a systematic study of the voltage-based droop control method for electric vehicles to establish the usability of the method for all the currently available residential electric vehicle charging possibilities considering a wide range of electric vehicle penetrations. Voltage limits are evaluated according to the international standard EN50160, using long-term load flow simulations based on a real distribution grid topology and real load profiles. The results achieved show that the voltage-based droop controller is able to mitigate the under voltage problems completely in distribution grids in cases either deploying low charging power levels or exhibiting low penetration rates. For high charging rates and high penetrations, the control mechanism improves the overall voltage profile, but it does not remedy the under voltage problems completely. The evaluation also shows the controller's ability to reduce the peak power at the transformer and indicates the impact it has on users due to the reduction in the average charging rates. The outcomes of the paper provide the distribution grid operators an insight on the voltage-based droop control mechanism for the future grid planning and investments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Demand response has been widely developed during recent years to increase efficiency and decrease the cost in the electric power sector by shifting energy use, smoothening the load curve, and thus ensuring benefits for all participating parties. This paper introduces a Demand Response Alert Service (DRAS) that can optimize the interaction between the energy industry parties and end users by sending the minimum number of relatable alerts to satisfy the transformation of the load curve. The service creates appliance models for certain deferrable appliances based on past-usage measurements and prioritizes households according to the probability of the use of their appliances. Several variations of the appliance model are examined with respect to the probabilistic association of appliance usage on different days. The service is evaluated for a peak-shaving scenario when either one or more appliances per household are involved. The results demonstrate a significant improvement compared to a random selection of end users, thus promising increased participation and engagement. Indicatively, in terms of the Area Under the Curve (AUC) index, the proposed method achieves, in all the studied scenarios, an improvement ranging between 41.33% and 64.64% compared to the baseline scenario. In terms of the F 1 score index, the respective improvement reaches up to 221.05%. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The curtailing of consumers' peak hours demands and filling the gap caused by the mismatch between generation and utilization in power systems is a challenging task and also a very hot topic in the current research era. Researchers of the conventional power grid in the traditional power setup are confronting difficulties to figure out the above problem. Smart grid technology can handle these issues efficiently. In the smart grid, consumer demand can be efficiently managed and handled by employing demand-side management (DSM) algorithms. In general, DSM is an important element of smart grid technology. It can shape the consumers' electricity demand curve according to the given load curve provided by the utilities/supplier. In this survey, we focused on DSM and potential applications of DSM in the smart grid. The review in this paper focuses on the research done over the last decade, to discuss the key concepts of DSM schemes employed for consumers' demand management. We review DSM schemes under various categories, i.e., direct load reduction, load scheduling, DSM based on various pricing schemes, DSM based on optimization types, DSM based on various solution approaches, and home energy management based DSM. A comprehensive review of DSM performance metrics, optimization objectives, and solution methodologies is' also provided in this survey. The role of distributed renewable energy resources (DERs) in achieving the optimization objectives and performance metrics is also revealed. The unpredictable nature of DERs and their impact on DSM are also exposed. The motivation of this paper is to contribute by providing a better understanding of DSM and the usage of DERs that can satisfy consumers' electricity demand with efficient scheduling to achieve the performance metrics and optimization objectives. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recently, due to the growth of the electric vehicle (EV) market, the investigation of grid-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-grid strategies has become a priority in both the electric mobility and distribution grid research areas. However, there is still a lack of large-scale data sets to test and deploy energy management strategies. In this paper, a fully customizable EV population simulator is presented as an attempt to fill this gap. The proposed tool is designed as a web simulator as well as a Matlab/Simulink block, in order to facilitate its integration in different projects and applications. It provides individual and aggregated charge, discharge and plugin/out event data for a population of EVs, considering both home and public charging stations. The population is generated on the basis of statistical data (which can be fully customized) including commuting distances, vehicle models, traffic and social behavior of the owners. A peak-shaving case study is finally proposed to show the potential of the simulator. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The FlexPlan Horizon2020 project aims at establishing a new grid-planning methodology which considers the opportunity to introduce new storage and flexibility resources in electricity transmission and distribution grids as an alternative to building new grid elements, in accordance with the intentions of the Clean Energy for all Europeans regulatory package of the European Commission. FlexPlan creates a new innovative grid-planning tool whose ambition is to go beyond the state of the art of planning methodologies by including the following innovative features: assessment of the best planning strategy by analysing in one shot a high number of candidate expansion options provided by a pre-processor tool, simultaneous mid- and long-term planning assessment over three grid years (2030, 2040, 2050), incorporation of a full range of cost–benefit analysis criteria into the target function, integrated transmission distribution planning, embedded environmental analysis (air quality, carbon footprint, landscape constraints), probabilistic contingency methodologies in replacement of the traditional N-1 criterion, application of numerical decomposition techniques to reduce calculation efforts and analysis of variability of yearly renewable energy sources (RES) and load time series through a Monte Carlo process. Six regional cases covering nearly the whole European continent are developed in order to cast a view on grid planning in Europe till 2050. FlexPlan will end up formulating guidelines for regulators and planning offices of system operators by indicating to what extent system flexibility can contribute to reducing overall system costs (operational + investment) yet maintaining current system security levels and which regulatory provisions could foster such process. This paper provides a complete description of the modelling features of the planning tool and pre-processor and provides the first results of their application in small-scale scenarios. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, the presence of renewable generation systems and mobile loads (i.e., electric vehicle) spread throughout the distribution network is increasing. The problem is that this type of system introduces an added difficulty since they present a strong dependence on the meteorology and the mobility needs of the users. This problem forces the distribution system operators to seek tools that make it possible to balance the relationship between consumption and generation. In this sense, automated demand response systems are an appropriate solution that allow the operator to request specific reductions in customers' consumption, offering a discount to the customer and avoiding network congestion. This paper analyzes the implementation and architecture of a demand response solution based on OpenADR standard and its possible integration with a building management system through a use case. As will be analyzed, a key part of the architecture is the measurement system based on smart meters acting as sensors. This is the base of the auditing system which makes it possible to verify compliance with the consumption reduction agreements. Additionally, this study is completed with a parallel auditing system which makes it possible to verify compliance with the consumption reduction agreements. All of the proposed demand response cycle is implemented as a proof of concept in a classroom in the Escuela Politécnica Superior at the University of Seville, which makes it possible to identify the advantages of this architecture in the ambit of connection between distribution network and buildings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial lighting systems are used in commercial greenhouses to ensure year-round yields. Current Light Emitting Diode (LED) technologies improved the system efficiency. Nevertheless, having artificial lighting systems extended for hectares with power densities over 50 W / m 2 causes energy and power demand of greenhouses to be really significant. The present paper introduces an innovative supervisory and predictive control strategy to optimize the energy performance of the artificial lights of greenhouses. The controller has been implemented in a multi-span plastic greenhouse located in North Italy. The proposed control strategy has been tested on a greenhouse of 1 hectare with a lighting system with a nominal power density of 50 W m − 2 requiring an overall power supply of 1 M W for a period of 80 days. The results have been compared with the data coming from another greenhouse of 1 hectare in the same conditions implementing a state-of-the-art strategy for artificial lighting control. Results outlines that potential 19.4% cost savings are achievable. Moreover, the algorithm can be used to transform the greenhouse in a viable source of energy flexibility for grid reliability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increasing numbers of photovoltaic systems and heat pumps in existing building clusters can lead to an overload of the associated electric grid substations. Based on a multi-agent-based simulation of three building cluster types the impact of building flexibility in regard to the residual substation load is studied. Each building announces its available flexibility, e.g., "heat pump can be switched off/on". A cluster master coordinator evaluates the incoming offers and decides which offers are accepted in regard to the substation's capacity utilization. The goal is to honour the substation's limit by shifting the residual load. This paper presents results from three typical urban building clusters for different penetration scenarios in regard to heat pumps, photovoltaic systems, batteries and electric vehicles. It is shown that in the studied building clusters a high penetration of heat pumps and photovoltaic systems can violate the existing substation's limits, regardless of the efforts by the master coordinator. Batteries of typical capacities cannot reduce the peak residual load. The load shifting options of the master coordinator are limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Achieving the renewable energy integration target will require the extensive engagement of consumers and the private sector in investment and operation of renewable-based energy systems. Virtual power plants are an efficient way to implement this engagement. In this paper, the detailed costs and benefits of implementing a realistic virtual power plant (VPP) in Western Australia, comprising 67 dwellings, are calculated. The VPP is designed to integrate and coordinate rooftop solar photovoltaic panels (PV), vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB), heat pump hot water systems (HWSs), and demand management mechanisms. An 810-kW rooftop solar PV system is designed and located using the HelioScope software. The charging and the discharging of a 700-kWh VRFB are scheduled for everyday use over a year using an optimization algorithm, to maximize the benefit of it for the VPP owners and for the residents. The use of heat pump HWSs provides a unique opportunity for the residents to save energy and reduce the total cost of electricity along with demand management on some appliances. The cost-and-benefit analysis shows that the cost of energy will be reduced by 24% per dwelling in the context of the VPP. Moreover, the internal rate of return for the VPP owner is at least 11% with a payback period of about 8.5 years, which is a promising financial outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper addresses the energy management of a standalone renewable energy system. The system is configured as a microgrid, including photovoltaic generation, a lead-acid battery as a short term energy storage system, hydrogen production, and several loads. In this microgrid, an energy management strategy has been incorporated that pursues several objectives. On the one hand, it aims to minimize the amount of energy cycled in the battery, in order to reduce the associated losses and battery size. On the other hand, it seeks to take advantage of the long-term surplus energy, producing hydrogen and extracting it from the system, to be used in a fuel cell hybrid electric vehicle. A crucial factor in this approach is to accommodate the energy consumption to the energy demand and to achieve this, a model predictive control (MPC) scheme is proposed. In this context, proper models for solar estimation, hydrogen production, and battery energy storage will be presented. Moreover, the controller is capable of advancing or delaying the deferrable loads from its prescheduled time. As a result, a stable and efficient supply with a relatively small battery is obtained. Finally, the proposed control scheme has been validated on a real case scenario. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the development of a heuristic-based algorithm for a Home Electric Energy Management System (HEEMS). The novelty of the proposal resides in the fact that solutions of the Pareto front, minimizing both the energy consumption and cost, are obtained by a Genetic Algorithm (GA) considering the renewable energy availability as well as the user activity level (AL) inside the house. The extensive solutions search characteristic of the GAs is seized to avoid the calculation of the full set of Pareto front solutions, i.e., from a reduced set of non-dominated solutions in the Pareto sense, an optimal solution with the best fitness is obtained, reducing considerably the computational time. The HEEMS considers models of the air conditioner, clothes dryer, dishwasher, electric stove, pool pump, and washing machine. Models of the wind turbine and solar PV modules are also included. The wind turbine model is written in terms of the generated active power exclusively dependent on the incoming wind profiles. The solar PV modules model accounts for environmental factors such as ambient temperature changes and irradiance profiles. The effect of the energy storage unit on the energy consumption and costs is evaluated adapting a model of the device considering its charge and discharge ramp rates. The proposed algorithm is implemented in the Matlab® platform and its validation is performed by comparing its results to those obtained by a freeware tool developed for the energy management of smart residential loads. Also, the evaluation of the performance of the proposed HEEMS is carried out by comparing its results to those obtained when the multi-objective optimization problem is solved considering weights assigned to each objective function. Results showed that considerable savings are obtained at reduced computational times. Furthermore, with the calculation of only one solution, the end-user interaction is reduced making the HEEMS even more manageable than previously proposed approaches. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presently, the advancements in the electric system, smart meters, and implementation of renewable energy sources (RES) have yielded extensive changes to the current power grid. This technological innovation in the power grid enhances the generation of electricity to meet the demands of industrial, commercial and residential sectors. However, the industrial sectors are the focus of power grid and its demand-side management (DSM) activities. Neglecting other sectors in the DSM activities can deteriorate the total performance of the power grid. Hence, the notion of DSM and demand response by way of the residential sector makes the smart grid preferable to the current power grid. In this circumstance, this paper proposes a home energy management system (HEMS) that considered the residential sector in DSM activities and the integration of RES and energy storage system (ESS). The proposed HEMS reduces the electricity cost through scheduling of household appliances and ESS in response to the time-of-use (ToU) and critical peak price (CPP) of the electricity market. The proposed HEMS is implemented using the Earliglow based algorithm. For comparative analysis, the simulation results of the proposed method are compared with other methods: Jaya algorithm, enhanced differential evolution and strawberry algorithm. The simulation results of Earliglow based optimization method show that the integration of RES and ESS can provide electricity cost savings up to 62.80% and 20.89% for CPP and ToU. In addition, electricity cost reduction up to 43.25% and 13.83% under the CPP and ToU market prices, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nowadays, automated appliances are exponentially increasing. Therefore, there is a need for a scheme to accomplish the electricity demand of automated appliances. Recently, many Demand Side Management (DSM) schemes have been explored to alleviate Electricity Cost (EC) and Peak to Average Ratio (PAR). In this paper, energy consumption problem in a residential area is considered. To solve this problem, a heuristic based DSM technique is proposed to minimize EC and PAR with affordable user's Waiting Time (WT). In heuristic techniques: Bacterial Foraging Optimization Algorithm (BFOA) and Flower Pollination Algorithm (FPA) are implemented. Furthermore, a novel heuristic algorithm has been proposed by merging the best features of the aforementioned existing algorithms. We test the proposed scheme on single homes and on smart community (involving multiple households). Different Operational Time Intervals (OTIs) are also considered for implementation. We have performed simulations for validating the our scheme. Results clearly demonstrate that the proposed Hybrid Bacterial Flower Pollination Algorithm (HBFPA) shows efficacy for EC and for reduction of PAR with reasonable user WT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Along with the emerging development of demand side management applications, it is still a challenge to exploit flexibility realistically to resolve or prevent specific geographical network issues due to limited situational awareness of the (unbalanced low-voltage) network as well as complex time dependent constraints. To overcome these problems, this paper presents a time-horizon three-phase grid-supportive demand side management methodology for low voltage networks by using a universal interface that is established between the demand side management application and the monitoring and network analysis tools of the network operator. Using time-horizon predictions of the system states that the probability of operational limit violations is identified. Since this analysis is computationally intensive, a data driven approach is adopted by using machine learning. Time-horizon flexibility is procured, which effectively prevents operation limit violation from occurring independent of the objective that the demand side management application has. A practical example featuring fair power sharing demonstrates the effectiveness of the presented method for resolving over-voltages and under-voltages. This is followed by conclusions and recommendations for future work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we design a controller for home energy management based on following meta-heuristic algorithms: teaching learning-based optimization (TLBO), genetic algorithm (GA), firefly algorithm (FA) and optimal stopping rule (OSR) theory. The principal goal of designing this controller is to reduce the energy consumption of residential sectors while reducing consumer’s electricity bill and maximizing user comfort. Additionally, we propose three hybrid schemes OSR-GA, OSR-TLBO and OSR-FA, by combining the best features of existing algorithms. We have also optimized the desired parameters: peak to average ratio, energy consumption, cost, and user comfort (appliance waiting time) for 20, 50, 100 and 200 heterogeneous homes in two steps. In the first step, we obtain the optimal scheduling of home appliances implementing our aforementioned hybrid schemes for single and multiple homes while considering user preferences and threshold base policy. In the second step, we formulate our problem through chance constrained optimization. Simulation results show that proposed hybrid scheduling schemes outperformed for single and multiple homes and they shift the consumer load demand exceeding a predefined threshold to the hours where the electricity price is low thus following the threshold base policy. This helps to reduce electricity cost while considering the comfort of a user by minimizing delay and peak to average ratio. In addition, chance-constrained optimization is used to ensure the scheduling of appliances while considering the uncertainties of a load hence smoothing the load curtailment. The major focus is to keep the appliances power consumption within the power constraint, while keeping power consumption below a pre-defined acceptable level. Moreover, the feasible regions of appliances electricity consumption are calculated which show the relationship between cost and energy consumption and cost and waiting time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]