An integrated tool for assessing the demand profile flexibility

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to describe an integrated tool whose aim is to assess the residential demand profile flexibility through the control of space conditioning loads, mainly air conditioner and heat pump appliances. This assessment has been divided into two principal tasks—an estimation of the controllable load and a selection of the optimum load control strategy according to a target profile and a set of prefixed constraints. The tool also provides the aggregated load behavior, allowing a comparison between different load strategies. This tool can be applied from the customer’s and the utility’s side. An application example to a real environment is also presented.