User centric economic demand response management in a secondary distribution system in India

This study presents a demand response (DR) model to curtail the load during peak hours in a secondary (230/440 V) distribution system of Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (TANGEDCO), a state-owned enterprise, India. TANGEDCO penalises utilities if they violate their permitted contractual limit of demand. Conventional demand control usually curtails a specific region of the secondary distribution network. The limitation of the complete blackout of the particular region in the distribution network increases the loss of load probability. Hence, this project implements an economic DR model in real time using demand side forecasting and by scheduling air-conditioning loads based on their priority. The pilot project is executed and is monitored at the National Institute of Technology, Tiruchirappalli, India campus. A standard back propagation neural network is used for forecasting a 15 min interval ahead maximum demand in kVA. This economic model comprises of a communication network that uses ON/OFF switching wirelessly controlled relay modules. Finally, the benefits and the strategy involved in the project are presented. It is found that the proposed scheme prevents the electrical demand from exceeding the contractual limit, whereby the penalty due to the violation is zeroed when compared to the previous year.