Decentral Control Strategies for Demand-side Management by Industrial Heating and Cooling Devices with Discontinuous Operation Mode

In future energy systems with a high share of fluctuating energy sources like wind and solar power, keeping the balance between power generation and consumption will be a challenge. In this context, cost-efficient solutions for moving the electrical energy demand to times with a high availability of renewable energy sources are needed. In this paper, a decentral control approach for demand-side management by a multi-agent system of industrial supply technologies for heating and cooling with discontinuous operation mode is presented. By this approach, the devices are enabled to stabilize the power system without a central control unit, which calculates the individual operation strategy of each device. Furthermore, no process-specific internal information has to be revealed and no direct remote control of devices is required from external service providers.