Targeted demand response for mitigating price volatility and enhancing grid reliability in synthetic Texas electricity markets

Demand response (DR) is rapidly gaining attention as a solution to enhance the grid reliability with deep renewable energy penetration. Although studies have demonstrated the benefits of DR in mitigating price volatility, there is limited work considering the choice of locations for DR for maximal impact. We reveal that very small load reductions at a handful of targeted locations can lead to a significant decrease in price volatility and grid congestion levels based on a synthetic Texas grid model. We achieve this through exploiting the highly nonlinear nature of congestion dynamics and by strategically selecting DR locations. We demonstrate that we can similarly place energy storage to achieve an equivalent impact. Our findings suggest that targeted DR at specific locations, rather than across-the-board DR, can have substantial benefits to the grid. These findings can inform energy policy makers and grid operators how to target DR initiatives for improving grid reliability.