Demand Response Electric Optimizer: Optimizing household electricity consumption based on user availability

Following our previous article on optimizing thermal production systems in buildings, we continue to explore how smart energy management can improve energy use, this time focusing on electricity consumption within energy communities.

In this article, we present the Demand Response Electric Optimizer, a solution developed by R2M’s R&D&I department designed to coordinate household electricity consumption with times of peak renewable energy availability. Through optimization strategies that take into account both solar panel production forecasts and electricity demand, as well as users’ actual availability, the tool suggests shifting household activities—such as when to run the washing machine—to the most favorable times, improving the use of local energy and encouraging active participation in the community’s energy management.

When electricity consumption does not match the available power

Household electricity demand rarely aligns with times of peak renewable energy production or when electricity is cheapest. In the context of energy communities, where multiple households share resources such as solar power generation, coordinating this consumption holds particularly promising potential. To bring these two factors into alignment, demand management aims to shift consumption toward those more favorable times. Some solutions automate this process without user intervention, such as BatOpt, R2M’s solution for smart battery management. However, there are household activities that consume electricity—such as running the washing machine, dishwasher, or cooking—that cannot be automated because they depend on users’ willingness to perform them. Existing solutions for managing this type of load in a community either require complex monitoring systems or ignore users’ actual availability and generate unhelpful suggestions. To address this problem, R2M has developed the Demand Response Electric Optimizer: a solution that suggests to each user in an energy community the best time to perform their household activities, taking into account their actual availability and with minimal monitoring requirements.

How to optimize electricity consumption based on solar production and user availability

The Demand Response Electric Optimizer combines signals from solar panel production forecasts and electricity demand from the energy community. Based on both, it generates a traffic-light-style signal indicating the most favorable times of day to consume energy, since solar production peaks and demand troughs do not always coincide. A second key input is added to this: each user’s actual availability—that is, the time slots during which they are willing and able to perform each activity. With all this information, the optimizer calculates the optimal schedule by pursuing two objectives simultaneously: concentrating consumption during the most favorable times and distributing activities evenly among users to prevent everyone from running their washing machines at the same time, which would create a new consumption peak in the community. The result of this optimization translates into specific messages for each user (for example, sent via their cell phone) indicating the best time to run the washing machine or set the dishwasher.

Results obtained and application in real-world energy communities

The results show that the optimizer is capable of scheduling up to 79% of activities during the most favorable times (high solar generation and low demand) and reducing activities concentrated during peak electricity hours by up to 66%, without causing the community’s consumption to spike. Naturally, these percentages depend on users’ actual availability: the more flexible their schedules, the greater the potential for improvement. In terms of scalability, the solution has been tested with up to 1,000 simultaneous users, making it viable for energy communities of any size. The solution has been deployed in the Camille Claudel energy community in Palaiseau, France, with 14 participating households as part of the European HESTIA project.

Impact on energy management in communities

The most direct impact of this solution is the more efficient use of the solar energy generated within the community: by shifting activities to times of peak solar production, it reduces the amount of surplus energy fed into the grid without being consumed. This solution naturally complements BatOpt, which autonomously manages energy storage: while BatOpt decides when to charge or discharge the battery, the Demand Response Electric Optimizer acts on loads that depend on people, thus covering the full spectrum of flexibility in an energy community. Beyond the environmental impact, the solution has a significant social dimension: by respecting each user’s actual availability and generating concrete, actionable suggestions, it fosters active and sustained participation in the community’s energy management—something that more automated or complex solutions fail to achieve.

You can read more about the Demand Response Electric Optimizer in this article or by writing to us at contacto@r2msolution.es