Mixed integer smart off-grid home energy management system

Abstract

Hybrid PV/diesel generator/batteries systems are applied for many off-grid homes overall the world. Most of the existing studies neglect the effect of loading level of diesel generators on the fuel consumption and/or system efficiency. In addition to, the existing experience of smart home load management isn’t considered in such recent off-grid system energy management research. Therefore, a new offline smart isolated home load scheduling scheme is proposed in this paper to suit developing countries homes characteristics. In this work, detailed models of smart homes sources and appliances are presented. Daily load scheduling scheme is proposed that consider users’ weekly and daily plans to satisfy home occupant’s desires. It also extends batteries lifetime by controlling charging/discharging processes. Diesel generator loading levels are optimized to minimize the total fuel consumption. The proposed scheme is applied on the well-known Mixed Integer Linear Programming MILP optimization technique to introduce a simple and cheap load scheduling scheme for such remote unsophisticated communities. The proposed scheme reduces the fuel consumption to 20% with relatively comfortable lifestyle for home users.

Keywords

• PV-Diesel hybrid system
• Rural electrification
• Developing countries
• Energy management system
• Smart home