Smart Software as Customer Assistant in Large-Scale Distributred Load Management

Advanced information systems present a key enabling technology for innovative
customer-oriented services by the utility industry. Real-time and two-way electronic
informationexchange with the customer over the power grid and other media is now
possible. This provides the baseline for a host of new customer services, provided
proper advantage is taken of a variety of recent advances in information technology.
In this context, we discuss (a) how to engineer knowledge into systems and services,
giving rise to smart software and intelligent systems, and (b) how to exploit
this practically for novel ways to achieve distributed load management, dealing with
thousands of devices simultaneously. A special characteristic of our concept is that
the two-way information exchange for load-balancing purposes is based on market
mechanisms similar to an auction. This auction is carried out by small smart software
programs in devices (such as radiators) that represent and assist the customer.
Field experiments with this intelligent and distributed new approach to power load
management are currently performed.