A user-mode distributed energy management architecture for smart grid applications

Abstract

Future smart grids will require a flexible, observable, and controllable network architecture for reliable and efficient energy delivery under uncertain conditions. They will also necessitate variability in distributed energy generators and demand-side loads. This study presents a tree-like user-mode network architecture responding to these requirements. The approaches presented for the next-generation grid architecture facilitate the management of distributed generation strategies based on renewable sources, distributed storage, and demand-side load management.The authors draw a framework for the future digital power grid concept and assess its viability in relation to volatile, diverse generation and consumption possibilities. In this sense, probabilistic energy balance analyses of tree-like user-mode networks with a stochastic end-user population are conducted to investigate the energy reliability of the proposed grid. A case study based on published generation and consumption profile data is also presented, and several generation scenarios formed by variants of this data are discussed. © 2012 Elsevier Ltd.