Load scheduling with Maximum Demand using Binary Particle Swarm Optimization

With continuously growing energy demand the importance of Demand Response(DR) programs is increasing in Smart Grid. Demand response relies on scheduling of loads under the constraints enforced by the utlity so as to reduce energy cost. Schedulable loads play an important role in such programs. The main aim of Demand Response programs is to minimize the energy cost considering the Maximum Demand (MD) limit and the operating constraints of the demand resources. Binary Particle Swarm Optimization(BPSO) is one of the soft computing methods suitable for addressing commitment problems. This paper suggests a method based on BPSO to solve the load scheduling problem with flexibe and non flexible loads and also having Maximum Demand constraint. The algorithm is validated for a number of loads having different characteristics.