Smart demand-side energy management based on cellular technology - a way towards Smart Grid technologies in africa and low budget economies

Abstract

The century-old power grids were not designed to meet modern requirements. The current need to use electricity more efficiently and to introduce "green" sources of energy is not well supported by existing grid technology. A particular problem is that detailed information about consumption of electricity is not provided to users and network operators. This is one of the prime reasons for electricity wastage. The "Smart Grid" concept is a solution to this problem. Smart Grid solutions at this moment in time are expensive to deploy. For developing countries it is particularly difficult to benefit from Smart Grid solutions. This paper proposes a system that can be used in developing economies as a way of reducing the consumption and wastage of electricity. The solution uses cell phones as an instrument to both display information and allow consumers to control appliances in their homes. This will be integrated into a larger Smart Grid application. The paper presents a concept that is still to be implemented and tested.

Smart Distribution Network with Integrationof Stochastic Renewable Energy Sourcesand Plug-in Electric Vehicles:Challenges and Issues

“…Yi et al, have proposed wireless LAN model for smart grid and he has considered the interference caused by overlapping ZigBee communications [27]. C. Kalalas et al, have presented a survey on neighbourhood area networks with cellular technology suitable for smart grid applications and especially demand side management [28]. In [29] authors have addressed the challenges and issues regarding the communication security, reliability and compatibility.…”

A systematic literature review on electricity management systems

“…Papers [70][71][72][73][74][75][76] present the proposed ideas and solutions for the electricity management systems and smart grid systems.…”

“…Authors in [72] highlighted that old and typical smart grids don't provide continuously updated information about electricity consumptions to consumers which is one of the main reason for wastage of electricity. Modern smart grids [71,75,76] frequently provide the electrical consumptions and billing information to users, but most of them do not have user friendly interfaces. In the proposed solutions for smarts grids, authors purposed that interfaces should be user friendly but in real context it require more time and efforts.…”

“…These ideas are very valuable, but their implementation require more research with the broad overview of areas such as industrial practices, cultural and environmental issues etc. Smart grids and electricity management technologies [71,79,80,82,85] are available for implementation at commercial level, but before implementation of these technologies there is a need to dig out potential barriers such as metering infrastructure, flexibility of electrical networks, smart grids facilities desired by users, energy storage systems, optimal expansions. Many smart grid applications provide solutions to monitor and manage the electricity in homes.…”

Demand-Side Management to Improve Power System Performance Within Smart Grids Environment

“…An advanced system is developed in [9] using programmable appliances at sites of consumer to take intelligent decisions automatically according to real time demand data. In [10] on the other hand, the management is accomplished using cell phones, which display information and allow consumers to control electric appliances. In [7], a design of a smart home controller is proposed to provide efficient electricity management of domestic loads depending on forecasting the electric demand of consumers.…”