What are the two main methods for peak shaving and valley filling in power grids, and how does UPIoT enable them to work together?

The two main methods are user-side policy measures such as time-of-use pricing that encourage voluntary load shifting, and coordinated dispatch of flexible loads and energy storage devices that discharge during peaks and charge during valleys. Under UPIoT, data barriers between the grid and users are broken, so real-time user consumption intentions can be fed into the distribution node and combined with controllable loads and storage in a single coordinated dispatch, allowing both methods to work together more effectively.

Peak shaving and valley filling aim to reduce electricity use during high-demand periods and increase load during low-demand periods. The first traditional method operates on the user or load side through policy instruments like time-of-use pricing and incentives that motivate users to shift consumption away from peak hours, but this approach has limited effectiveness on its own. The second method relies on coordinated dispatch of flexible loads and energy storage: storage devices discharge during peak periods and charge during low-load periods, an approach common in active distribution networks. UPIoT enables the two to operate jointly by breaking data barriers. On the load side, policy measures are still used to obtain users' electricity consumption intentions, and these intentions are transmitted in real time to the distribution node. The node calculates the load's controllable range and performs coordinated dispatch together with other controllable variables such as flexible loads and storage. Because both user responses and controllable resource scheduling are integrated into one mechanism, the combined approach is theoretically more effective than applying either method separately.