Providing ancillary services for future smart microgrid can be a challenging task because of lack of conventional automatic generation control (AGC) and spinning reserves, and expensive storage devices. In addition, strong motivation to increase the penetration of renewable energy in power systems, particularly at the distribution level, introduces new challenges for frequency and voltage regulation. Thus, increased attention has been focused on demand response (DR), especially in the smart grid environment, where two-way communication and customer participation are part of. This paper presents a comprehensive central DR algorithm for frequency regulation, while minimizing the amount of manipulated load, in a smart microgrid. Simulation studies have been carried out on an IEEE 13-bus standard distribution system operating as a microgrid with and without variable wind generation. Simulation results show that the proposed comprehensive DR control strategy provides frequency (and consequently voltage) regulation as well as minimizing the amount of manipulated responsive loads in the absence/presence of wind power generation.

Energy sustainability of hybrid energy systems is essentially a multiobjective, multiconstraint problem, where the energy system requires the capability to make rapid and robust decisions regarding the dispatch of electrical power produced by generation assets. This process of control for energy system components is known as energy management. In this paper, the application of particle swarm optimization (PSO), which is a biologically inspired direct search method, to find real-time optimal energy management solutions for a stand-alone hybrid wind-microturbine (MT) energy system, is presented. Results demonstrate that the proposed PSO-based energy management algorithm can solve an extensive solution space while incorporating many objectives such as: minimizing the cost of generated electricity, maximizing MT operational efficiency, and reducing environmental emissions. Actual wind and end-use load data were used for simulation studies and the well-established sequential quadratic programming optimization technique was used to validate the results obtained from PSO. Promising simulation results indicate the suitability of PSO for real-time energy management of hybrid energy systems.

Demand response (DR) has proved to be an inevitable part of the future grid. Much research works have been reported in the literature on the benefits and implementation of DR. However, little works have been reported on the impacts of DR on dynamic performance of power systems, specifically on the load frequency control (LFC) problem. This paper makes an attempt to fill this gap by introducing a DR control loop in the traditional LFC model (called LFC-DR) for a single-area power system. The model has the feature of optimal operation through optimal power sharing between DR and supplementary control. The effect of DR communication delay in the controller design is also considered. It is shown that the addition of the DR control loop increases the stability margin of the system and DR effectively improves the system dynamic performance. Simulation studies are carried out for single-area power systems to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method.

Demand response (DR) has shown to be a promising tool for balancing generation and demand in the future power grid, specifically with high penetration of variable renewable generation, such as wind. This paper evaluates thermostat setpoint control of aggregate electric water heaters (EWHs) for load shifting, and providing desired balancing reserve for the utility. It also assesses the economic benefits of DR for the customers through time-of-use pricing. Simulation results reveal the achievement of the economic benefits to the customers while maintaining their comfort level and providing a large percentage of desired balancing reserve at the presence of wind generation.