Distributed optimal residential demand response considering operational constraints of unbalanced distribution networks

As a typical approach to demand response (DR), direct load control (DLC) enables a load service entity (LSE) to adjust the electricity usage of residential customers for peak shaving during a DLC event. Households are connected in low-voltage distribution networks, which are always three-phase unbalanced. However, existing work has not considered the detailed operational constraints of three-phase distribution networks, which may lead to decisions that deviate from reality or are even infeasible in practice. Moreover, centralised control may cause privacy and communication issues. This study proposes a distributed residential DLC method that considers the operational constraints of three-phase unbalanced distribution networks and privacy of residential customers. Numerical tests on IEEE benchmark systems demonstrate effectiveness of the method. The proposed distributed method can converge within 17 iterations in IEEE 123-bus distribution system, which demonstrates scalability of the proposed algorithm.