Optimal Scheduling of Household Appliances Incorporating Appliance Coordination

During a demand response program, cost saving in households is achieved by optimal scheduling of appliances. This paper introduces inconvenience to the general problem of appliance scheduling. It measures the disparity between the baseline and optimal schedule and the consumer seeks to minimize this objective in addition to cost minimization. A nonlinear integer optimization problem is formulated taking into account appliance coordination constraints and is solved with genetic algorithm. The results show that by optimally scheduling appliances taking into account coordination, a cost saving is achieved through load shifting and curtailment whereby an incentive is earned. By use of the weighting factor, a consumer can choose how they favour inconvenience over the cost.