ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses two families of multiuser Demand-side management (DSM) infrastructures, that is, the centralized and the distributed ones, illustrates their different characteristics, and evaluates their effectiveness. It shows how the two architectures involve different entities and thus have specific privacy issues that require ad hoc definitions and privacy-enhancement techniques to approach them. Privacy issues should be taken into account starting from the early stages of the design of a distributed DSM solution in accordance with a privacy-by-design approach. The benefits of DSM can be maximized by applying optimal power flow techniques, which seek to optimize the power flow management and resources utilization of power generation, transmission, and distribution networks subject to system constraints. DSM is considered a critical technique for optimizing power grid operation and several business models are emerging that make use of the innovative service.
