Intelligent Residential Energy Management System for Dynamic Demand Response in Smart Buildings

Abstract

The advancements in renewable energy technologies direct the power sector to focus on power generation from renewable energy resources (RER) as an alternative solution for meeting the future demand. Nowadays residential buildings are becoming smarter with wide use of smart appliances, integration of information and communication technology, and in-house power generation using RER. In this paper, an intelligent residential energy management system (IREMS) for prosumers of smart residential buildings is proposed, and its benefits are demonstrated through a case study. The primary objective of IREMS is reduction in electricity bills while maintaining the power demand under the maximum demand limit subjected to the various constraints governing the operation of household loads and RER. The IREMS achieves the objective by scheduling the schedulable loads during low pricing intervals while considering the operational dynamics of non-schedulable loads and availability of RER. IREMS also manages the battery energy storage in such a way so as to reduce the power dissipated through the dump load when excess power is available from RER due to the utility-defined power export limit to grid. Further, an optimal resources sizing algorithm is used to choose the size of RER and battery storage for the effective utilization of available renewable energy.

Existing System

Demand side management by controlling refrigerators and its effects on consumers.

Proposed System

In this paper, development of an intelligent residential energy management system (IREMS) for prosumers of smart residential building is attempted. In this paper, it is assumed that the smart residential building is equipped with in-house PV and small wind based power generation systems, battery storage, dump loads, and grid-interactive smart meter, in addition to smart appliances enabled with communication feature. The proposed IREMS attempts to reduce the electricity bill and the dependence of consumer on the utility by scheduling the schedulable loads while considering the operating dynamics of non-schedulable loads and available renewable power generation. Further, the IREMS ensures very minimum power wastage through the dump load while satisfying the PEL constraint imposed by the utility. The proposed architecture has a facility to frequently update the real-time changes in utility parameters such as variations in electricity price, MDL and PEL; changes in operating time of loads opted by the consumer; and intermittence of renewable power generation. The main contributions of this paper are listed as follows: 1) Optimal sizing of RER and battery units to be installed in the residential building to achieve reduction in total investment cost, electricity bill, and utility dependence; 2) Development of scheduling algorithm for schedulable loads and battery units to minimize the electricity bill and maximize the utilization of renewable energy while considering the following: a) operational dynamics of non-schedulable loads; b) desire and comfort of the user; c) intermittency of the renewable power generation; d) variation in electricity price of utility; e) operational limits proposed by the utility such as MDL and PEL; 3) Cost benefit analysis for showcasing the savings and minimum cash payback period (CPP) anticipated from the proposed algorithm.

Architecture

Architecture of the proposed IREMS