Design and Implementation of an Interactive Interface for Demand Response and Home Energy Management Applications

Abstract

Demand response (DR) implementations have recently found wide application areas in the context of smart grids. The effectiveness of these implementations is primarily based on the willingness of end-users to be involved in such programs. In this paper, an interactive and user-friendly interface is presented in order to facilitate and accordingly to increase the participation of end-users in DR programs. The proposed interface has the capability of providing the targeted information about the DR events to end-users and system operators, as well as allowing end-users to interactively monitor and control the progress of their appliances. In addition to its benefits to system operators and thus to the improved operation of power systems, the proposed interface particularly aims to exploit the potential energy-related cost savings by providing the required information and resources to end-users via mobile phone. A separate interface apart from the mentioned end-user oriented interface has also been developed for the system operator to more effectively check the status of DR applications in detail. The capabilities of the proposed concept are evaluated in a real smart home in terms of various aspects.