  Load aggregators are independent private entities whose goal is to optimize
energy consumption flexibilities offered by multiple residential consumers.
  Although aggregators optimize their decisions in a decentralized way, they
are indirectly linked together if their respective consumers belong to the same
distribution grid.
  This is an important issue for a distribution system operator (DSO), in
charge of the reliability of the distribution network, it has to ensure that
decentralized decisions taken do not violate the grid constraints and do not
increase the global system costs.
  From the information point of view,the network state and characteristics are
confidential to the DSO, which makes a decentralized solution even more
relevant.
  To address this issue, we propose a decentralized coordination mechanism
between the DSO and multiple aggregators that computes the optimal demand
response profiles while solving the optimal power flow problem. The procedure,
based on distribution locational marginal prices (DLMP), preserves the
decentralized structure of information and decisions, and lead to a feasible
and optimal solution for both the aggregators and the DSO.
  The procedure is analyzed from a mechanism design perspective, and different
decentralized methods that could be used to implement this procedure are
presented.
