WiP Abstract: Mobility-based Load Balancing for IoT-enabled Devices in Smart Grids

Abstract

There is an unprecedented load variability in the smart grids due to device (e.g. electric vehicles) mobility across different grid-locations. As a consequence, utility service providers have started exploring solutions such as dynamic pricing mechanisms, grid extensions and redistribution across micro-grids. However, most of these solutions do not exploit the transient nature of mobile devices. In this work, we propose an alternate mobility-based load balancing mechanism that exploits device-level flexibility. With recent advancements in Internet of Things (IoT) technology, we assume these devices to be equipped with IoT capabilities. We present an abstract model to capture the demand from these IoT-enabled devices in the form of a utility function. Our objective is to cater to the demand by incentivising device mobility without exceeding the peak load capacity across all grid-locations such that the overall utility of the devices is maximized.