A Smart Energy Meter Enabling Self-Demand Response of Consumers in Smart
Cities of Tamil Nadu
Abstract
Demand response (DR) is one of the demand side management features under
the paradigm of smart grids, wherein the consumers are encouraged to
participate in the utility operations through active response to
electricity price signals by altering their demand patterns. One
impediment in employing demand response schemes in India is the fixed
electricity tariff for the domestic consumers, which most of the Indian
state utilities follow. Interestingly, the Tamil Nadu State Electricity
Board (TNEB) follows an incremental block rate tariff for domestic
consumers, which provides an opportunity for the implementation of
proposed self–DR scheme. Hence firstly, this paper presents the design
and development of a low-cost single-phase smart energy meter (SEM)
which incorporates a TNEB tariff structure. Secondly, the development of
an indigenous meter data management system (MDMS) software is attempted
for the utility using open–source software tools. Finally, the idea of
self-DR is introduced and emphasized through the coordinated operation
of developed SEM and MDMS.