Residential energy management systems with renewables and battery energy storage

With increasing concern towards the environmental impact of energy production, distribution, and consumption in the modern world, the overall energy landscape is changing. This Master’s Thesis investigates methods of addressing these inevitable transformations through the incorporation of renewable energy and energy storage on the residential-scale using energy management systems (EMSs). A simulated residential house model was developed in order to compare a variety of different energy management techniques on the same basis. The simulated EMS investigation has covered: deterministic EMSs, those in their most basic forms; adaptive EMSs, utilizing machine learning and predictive control algorithms; and, a transactional EMS. The deterministic EMSs produced the least annual cost savings, but are the simplest to implement. Adaptive EMSs have shown the highest estimated cost savings, with increased controller complexity as a trade-off. The transactive EMS has shown intermediate cost savings, with additional potential benefits such as demand response and community integration capabilities. Experimental work has been conducted verifying critical claims of the systems, focusing on battery output control and inter-agent controller communication. The most interesting areas warranting future research involve implementing predictive control experimentally – and on a wider scale – and investigating transactive control on the community level.