A Multiscale study of flexible customer’s energy demand under smart grid architecture: A modeling and simulation study

Abstract

In the context of an energy crisis, efficient energy management has become an unavoidable issue for sustainability, regardless of the domain under consideration. Smart grids are no exception; they aim to motivate energy optimization according to billing strategies and users’ comfort. In this paper, two optimization problems (OP) are proposed involving billing strategies and users’ flexibility. A single-centralized OP aims to minimize the total energy provided by a company, while a distributed OP targets minimizing individual user costs independently, involving users’ flexibilities, different billing strategies, and a variable number of users, with random appliances assigned during simulations. The resolution was carried out using the Non-dominated Sorting Algorithm II and Multi-Criteria Analysis, with a Game-based algorithm also utilized. Additionally, simulations were performed under three billing mechanisms. The findings show that costs decrease exponentially with user participation. Similarly, both individual user costs and total costs at the energy provider level were minimized as users’ flexibilities increased. The Peak-to-Average-Ratio is minimized and exhibits a bimodal behavior when observed as a random variable. Regarding the interplay of billing mechanisms, simulation results demonstrate that the smart billing mechanism proposed by the authors outperforms other billing models proposed in the literature for both consumers and utility companies.