Abstract
The conventional energy meters are not suitable for long operating purposes as they spend much human and material resources. Smart meters, on the other hand, are devices that perform advanced functions including electrical energy consumption recording of residential/industrial users, billing, real-time monitoring, and load balancing. In this chapter, a smart home prototype is designed and implemented. Appliances are powered by the grid during daytime, and a photovoltaic panel stored power during the night or in case of an electricity outage. Second, consumed power from both sources is sensed and further processed for cumulative energy, cost calculations and bill establishment for different proposed scenarios using LABVIEW software. Data are communicated using a USB data acquisition card (DAQ-USB 6008). Finally, a simulation framework using LABVIEW software models four houses each equipped with various appliances. The simulator predicts different power consumption profiles to seek of peak-demand reduction through a load control process.
TopList Of Acronyms
AC: Alternating Current.
Ah: Ampere-Hours.
AMI: Advanced Metering Infrastructure.
As: Ampere-Seconds.
C: Coulomb.
DC: Direct Current.
DG: Distributed power generation.
DR: Demand Responce.
DPDT: Double Pole Double Throw.
DPST: Double Pole Single Throw.
DSM: Demand Side Management.
HAN: Home Area Monitoring.
HEMS: Home Energy Management System.
LAN: Local Area Network.
mA: Milliampere.
NC: Normally Closed.
NO: Normally Open.
PLC: Power Line Carrier.
PV: Photovoltaic.
RE: Renewable Energy.
RER: Renewable Energy Resources.
RES: Renewable Energy System.
RET: Renewable Energy technologies.
RF: Radio Frequency.
SG: Smart Grid.
SM: Smart Meter.
SPDT: Single Pole Double Throw.
SPST: Single Pole Single Throw.
ToU: Time of Use.
V: Volt.
W: Watt.
WAN: Wide Area Network.
Wh: Watt-hours.
TopIntroduction
For a century, utility companies have used conventional power grid system to provide electricity, the traditional grid is facing numerous challenges including lack of techniques to automatically monitor the grid system and transfer useful data, besides with the ever increase in electricity demand and with the pressure from ever increasing energy demand and the reduction of fossil fuels, which pollute the environment, finding new energy resources and enhancing energy efficiency have become priority of many nations in the 21st century (Recioui & Dassa, 2017; Chellali et al., 2014).
Renewable Energies in general and solar photovoltaic (PV) in particular are a good alternative to ensure sustainability in the global energy production with environmental protection because it is a renewable and a non-polluting energy source.
The demand for power is increasing dramatically in developed and developing countries. In 2030, an increase of 50% and 40% of energy consumption is expected in the US and Europe respectively. It is expected to triple in China and India (Environnement, 2010).
In recent years, a new generation of power grid system, referred to as the Smart Grid (SG), with an aim of managing electricity demand and increasing the share of electricity generators based on renewable energies has emerged.
Key Terms in this Chapter
AMI: Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) refers to systems that measure, collect, and analyze energy usage, and communicate with metering devices such as electricity meters, gas meters, heat meters, and water meters, either on request or on a schedule. These systems include hardware, software, communications, consumer energy displays and controllers, customer associated systems, meter data management software, and supplier business systems.
Peak Demand Reduction: energy demand management, also known as demand-side management (DSM) or demand-side response (DSR) is the modification of consumer demand for energy through various methods such as financial incentives and behavioral change through education.
Load Profile: A load profile is a graph of the variation in the electrical load versus time. A load profile will vary according to customer type (typical examples include residential, commercial and industrial), temperature and holiday seasons. Power producers use this information to plan how much electricity they will need to make available at any given time.
Smart Metering: A smart meter is an electronic device that records consumption of electric energy and communicates the information to the electricity supplier for monitoring and billing. Smart meters typically record energy hourly or more frequently, and report at least daily. Smart meters enable two-way communication between the meter and the central system. Such an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) differs from automatic meter reading (AMR) in that it enables two-way communication between the meter and the supplier.
Smart Grids: A smart grid is an electrical grid which includes a variety of operation and energy measures including smart meters, smart appliances, renewable energy resources, and energy efficient resources. Electronic power conditioning and control of the production and distribution of electricity are important aspects of the smart grid.