Distributed Energy Management Analysis for Microgrids

A key method of reducing energy usage and bills is collaborative demand management of buildings, and smart distribution networks using local renewable energy integrated sources. Emerging technologies such as the IOT (internet of things) can be integrated with grids, allowing bidirectional communication between customers and suppliers, while supporting remote management and monitoring of live energy usage. These systems create opportunities to deal with the distributed aggregation and control of distributed energy resources (DERs). Investigating how DERs are used at residential level in buildings such as smart houses reveal new possibilities relating to how the demand side can be made more efficient. In the long term, reducing energy demand during on-peak hours is a step towards creating a clean energy future. The primary goal of this paper is to observe and investigate how specific DSM strategies minimize energy consumption while maximizing efficiency with the use of new emerging technologies. A software called ETAP is used to analyse the integration of distributed generation such as renewable energy sources (RES) to utilize local power storage. In short, this is useful in providing flexibility to consumers. A PV system was also tested with an individual domestic load using an energy management system. This test examined how appliance energy usage can be reduced and shows why a management system is required to optimally utilize a PV system.