Design and Operation of an Open, Interoperable Automated Demand Response Infrastructure for Commercial Buildings

This paper describes the concept for and lessons from the development and field-testing of an open, interoperable communications infrastructure to support automated demand response (auto-DR). Automating DR allows greater levels of participation, improved reliability, and repeatability of the DR in participating facilities. This paper also presents the technical and architectural issues associated with auto-DR and description of the demand response automation server (DRAS), the client/server architecture-based middleware used to automate the interactions between the utilities or any DR serving entity and their customers for DR programs. Use case diagrams are presented to show the role of the DRAS between utility/ISO and the clients at the facilities.