An investigation of the customer baseline load (CBL) calculation for industrial demand response participants –A regional case study from Iran

In today's power systems, performing demand response (DR) programs is considered a solution for sustainable operation, carbon reduction, and facilitating renewable energy integration. Currently in Iran, several DR programs are available to industrial customers. Moreover, the design of a market-based DR has recently been considered by the power system operator. In DR programs, customer baseline load (CBL) is used to determine the level of customers’ demand reduction and is key to the billing process; thus, the CBL calculation methodology can directly affect the efficiency of these programs. This paper investigates the current CBL calculation method in Iran's power system and, as its main contribution, proposes some effective methods to reduce the probable incentives for CBL manipulation. In order to show the effectiveness of the methods, a real study case is considered based on the historical load data of the industries in the Khorasan region.