Internet data centers participating in demand response: A comprehensive review

Internet data centers (IDCs), which have the potential of spatial and temporal load regulation, are excellent demand response (DR) resources. IDCs participating in DR has recently become a popular topic as it is economical and efficiently helps improve power systems. However, there remain abundant opportunities to improve this interdisciplinary domain when considering the lack of applicability of IDC load models for power systems, exploitation regarding the potential of IDC load regulation, and DR mechanisms for spatial-coupling loads. Therefore, a review summarizing the state-of-art studies around the theme of IDCs participating in DR is warranted. A comprehensive survey covering the major parts of the DR in IDCs, along with the order load modeling, load regulation operations, economic considerations, and IDCs participating in DR programs, is presented in this paper. Furthermore, the challenges and future research issues are also discussed for further participation of DR in IDCs.