Optimum power scheduling of a community-based home energy management system

In a Smart Grid (SG) scenario, domestic consumers can gain cost reduction benefit by scheduling their Appliance Activation Time (AAT) towards the slots of low charge. Minimization in cost is essential in Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) to induce consumers acceptance for power scheduling to accommodate for a Demand Response (DR) at peak hours. Many proposed algorithms addressed the power scheduling for HEMS but community based optimization has not been the focus. This paper presents Community based HEMS (CHEMS) and targets the minimization of energy costs of the whole community while keeping a low Peak to Average Ratio (PAR) and smooth Power Usage Pattern (PUP). Objective of cost reduction is accomplished by finding most favorable AAT by Particle Swarm Optimization (PSO) in conjunction with Inclined Block Rate (IBR) approach and Circular Price Shift (CPS). Simulated numerical results show that CHEMS can save up to 45.3% electricity cost and achieve 37.98% reduction in PAR for a population size of 750 houses