1. Overview of Demand Response

Recent changes in the market rules, advancement in control and communication technology, and large-scale deployment of smart meters have made demand response a viable option to improve the reliability and efficiency of the power systems. Demand response is a change in electric usage by end-use customers from their normal consumption patterns in an exchange for a monetary gain. This chapter presents an overview of demand response, including the basic concept, history, control mechanisms, and the current statues of load resources participating in the wholesale market. It also summarizes the lessons learned from those regions which have provided a steady revenue resource potential to demand response participants. Finally, the future challenges for removing market barriers and coordinating a large number of load resources are identified in a future power grid where a large amount of demand response will be incorporated.