**1. Introduction**

The management of energy consumption is a critical challenge pertaining to the current load consumption schedule of the electrical power system. With the introduction of several efficient and intelligent devices for use by diverse customers and prosumers participating in a power flow network at the residential and industrial usage load levels, there is a necessity for standard and robust energy management architecture and implementation at the prosumer and the generation levels. The main focus is on load consumption management on the demand side, which can be accomplished by integrating various programs focused on efficiency and minimizing loss at both the appliance and the intelligent grid system level. The consumers and the energy-generating organizations participating at the energy market levels will gain significantly from such an adjustment in the load profile. Introducing standardization protocols for efficiency and consumption management approaches can help resolve severe concerns such as fossil fuel use, carbon emissions, energy costs, and other sustainability elements, to some extent. Integrating multiple communication and

**Citation:** Panda, S.; Mohanty, S.; Rout, P.K.; Sahu, B.K.; Parida, S.M.; Kotb, H.; Flah, A.; Tostado-Véliz, M.; Abdul Samad, B.; Shouran, M. An Insight into the Integration of Distributed Energy Resources and Energy Storage Systems with Smart Distribution Networks Using Demand-Side Management. *Appl. Sci.* **2022**, *12*, 8914. https://doi.org/ 10.3390/app12178914

Academic Editor: Amalia Miliou

Received: 11 August 2022 Accepted: 31 August 2022 Published: 5 September 2022

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**Copyright:** © 2022 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/).

Internet of Things (IoT) protocols in renovating conventional grid systems into intelligent grids has enabled a bidirectional information exchange [1]. This data can be utilized for a variety of energy management strategies. On the demand side, by incorporating various digital sensing and communication protocols, smart device control, and connectivity between utilities and geographically distant grid organizations, appliances can leverage this information to strategically provide an optimal strategy for better operation and efficiency characteristics. Understanding the problems related to integrating different sources and technology can provide ideas to establish synchrony between generation and load.

The notion of demand-side management (DSM) is a solution to these significant challenges related to grid sustainability, security, reliability, and load profile management from the perspective of consumption and for providing strategies for load reduction. DSM is a collection of load management solutions that plan, integrate, and monitor preassigned routine operations on the basis of a consumer's consumption behavior [2]. The DSM architecture can conservatively dispatch available generation capacity, lowering emissions and peak load usage while allowing users to use their preferred energy type [3]. DSM was launched in 1970 [4] when the electrical sector offered the DSM model and architecture to manage time-of-use (ToU) and peak electricity consumption and to analyze consumer load usage profiles. DSM can establish synchrony between generation and load, taking on maximum cases of obstacles.

There are substantial incentives to employ distributed generation (DG) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, improve power system efficiency and reliability, implement competitive energy policies, and delay transmission and distribution system upgrades. DGs are made up of renewable units such as wind turbines (WTs), photovoltaics (PV), fuel cells (FCs), and biomass, as well as non-renewable units such as micro-turbines (MTs), gas engines (GEs), diesel generators (DiGs), etc. By being near the clients, DGs avoid needing a transmission system. The integration and control of DGs, storage devices, and flexible loads can form a microgrid, a low voltage distribution network that can operate in isolated or grid-connected modes [5]. Due to a lack of sufficient energy generation sources, microgrids frequently struggle to meet demand. The intermittent nature of loads and renewable energy sources create this barrier [6]. As a result, to address this issue, an energy management system (EMS) is required. Using an EMS for a microgrid is a relatively new and trendy issue that has recently received much attention.

### *1.1. Motivation behind the Adoption of DSM*

The necessities of the load–grid from the perspectives of synchronization, stability of operation, security and data protection from external attacks, reliability issues, and profit maximization requirements have prompted attention in various areas of DSM research. The following are motivations for the rising interest in the application of DSM techniques:

