A practical approach to energy scheduling: a game worth playing?

Demand-side management (DSM) schemes have widely been analysed in the context of the future smart grid. Often they are based on game-theoretic approaches to schedule the electricity consumption of its participants such that it results in small peak-to-average ratios of the aggregated load. In order to guarantee high comfort levels for the consumer, we investigate a DSM scheme on the basis of individually owned energy storage systems. In addition to an advanced battery model, the scheme includes local renewable energy generation and forecasting errors. Starting from an existing discrete time dynamic game between the households of a neighbourhood, we propose two refinements. Statistical analysis of long term simulations show the benefits of the novel approach. Based on the improved scheduling technique, we discuss the added value of the dynamic game in comparison to a scenario without interaction between the households and conclude whether it is worth implementing such a DSM scheme.