A methodology to evaluate demand response communication protocols for the Smart Grid

Not far into the future, the power grid will be supported by response from the consumers, helping the grid operators in making more informed decisions about administrating electricity distribution. A critical enabler for a stable solution is the communication protocol between the consumer and the grid operator. Currently, there exist many evaluations of demand response strategies for shifting consumers´ usage, but these often do not consider the performance of the demand response protocol enabling this. In this paper, we present a methodology for evaluating the performance of demand response protocols for the Smart Grid in combination with a demand response strategy. The methodology shows how to formalize a household scenario, reuse existing specifications of demand response protocols, and strategies for this evaluation. The results are used to enhance the protocol behavior by tuning its parameters. Smart Energy Profile 2.0 (SEP2) communication protocol is used in a case study to validate the proposed methodology.