As the penetration of renewables into the grid increases, so do the uncertainty and constraints that need to be taken into account during demand-side management (DSM). Mechanism design (MD) provides effective DSM solutions that incorporate end-user preferences and uncertain capabilities, without jeopardizing comfort. The authors discuss the state of the art in DSM methods, which they broadly classify as game theoretic (largely MD) and not. They then proceed to outline a novel scheme for large-scale coordinated demand shifting, a highly important problem. Their mechanism employs the services of cooperatives of electricity consumers, incentivizes truthfulness regarding the contributions promised by the participants, and incorporates profiling techniques that assess contributors' trustworthiness. It is shown via simulations over real-world datasets to effectively shift peak load and generate substantial economic benefits at cooperative and individual levels.
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