Study of Energy Loss for Distributed Power-Flow Assignment in a Smart Home Environment

Abstract

Today, renewable energy resources are a critical component of distributed energy systems. However, their intermittent nature makes them unstable energy sources, making them very difficult to use optimally in any energy system. Battery storage is a viable solution for this issue. In this paper, we consider distributed power-flow assignment consisting of unstable power generators, unpredictable power loads, and multiple energy storage systems (ESSs), with different combinations of logical power connections between them. We propose power-flow assignment (PFA) algorithms to deal with single and multiple loads to address the possibility of reducing energy loss and improving distributed power-flow assignment with the presence of ESSs in a smart home environment. Simulation results reveal that the increment of logical power connections between generators, loads, and storage systems can significantly reduce energy loss. The proposed PFA algorithms can reduce energy loss by about 67% compared to a power-flow assignment for which all the generated power is stored in an ESS directly during winter. The results further show that spring has the highest energy loss and stored energy in ESS compared to other seasons.

Incorporating a Load-Shifting Algorithm for Optimal Energy Storage Capacity Design in Smart Homes

“…After the PS system is integrated, φ(PG, PL, t) can be reformed as a flow path that depends on connections between PGs and PS units and between PS units and PLs [13,33], i.e., φ(PG, PL, t) ⊆ φ(PG, PS, t) ∪ φ(PS, PL, t)…”

“…The instantaneous power of power generators and power loads is represented by pg f m (t) and pl f n (t), respectively. By integrating the instantaneous power, the total energy produced by each m-th power generator and the total energy consumed by each n-th power load during time t can be represented as [13,34]…”

“…In prior research [13], the focus was on investigating energy loss in the ESS of a smart home by proposing four distributed power-flow assignment algorithms. Two main types of distributed power-flow assignment were introduced: single-load power-flow assignment (SPFA) and multiple-load power-flow assignment (MPFA).…”

Energy Balancing of Power System Considering Periodic Behavioral Pattern of Renewable Energy Sources and Demands

“…Similarly, when renewable generated power is insufficient to fulfill demand, storage systems can discharge energy to fill the gap between demand and generation. Further, many researchers have claimed that using energy storage systems to support renewable energy sources is unavoidable [11]. Thus, energy storage systems help to realize economical, reliable, and sustainable power system operation.…”

“…11. From time t d to t d + t ′′ , pℓ c (t) and pg c (t) are set to pℓ c.max and pg c.min , respectively, by which the energy (t − t d )(pℓ c.max − pg c.min ) is consumed.…”