Demand-side management by integrating bus communication technologies into smart grids

Renewable Energy Sources (RES) plants still have to operate at their maximum possible output and are therefore independent of electric energy consumption. Thus, coordination between distributed generators, energy storage systems and flexible loads is expected to add a great value to grid operations and facilitate further RES penetration. The increasing penetration of bus communication technologies into buildings and their control possibilities over electric energy consumption may also make valuable contributions to the grid operation. Thus, the control system of the future grid should be compatible to smart buildings and cities. This paper presents a control system of an experimental microgrid which is made compatible to bus communication technologies at the demand-side, by applying a simple technique. The proposed technique does not require additional interface or software tools, as other methods do and therefore is a cost-effective method and can be easily expanded and used for demand-side management in future smart grids. Experimental results prove that bus communication technologies could contribute to the voltage regulation as well as to the application of efficient energy management policies of microgrid-based smart grid topologies.