A unified model for the optimal management of electrical and thermal equipment of a prosumer in a DR environment

Due to the recent trend toward the decentralization of energy production, i.e., the presence of small renewable energy plants directly connected to the grid, end users are fostered to pro-actively participate to the energy management by joining the so-called demand response programs. In addition, groups of end users are encouraged to form energy districts in which the energy is exchanged locally and negotiated, without intermediaries, directly with the energy providers. In this paper, a demand response program is envisioned at the energy district level where an aggregator dynamically determines the energy prices on the basis of market conditions, and a Cloud component is in charge of supplying high-level aggregated information. End user dwellings are purposely equipped in order to retrieve information from the Cloud so as to establish the best energy management strategy. This strategy is determined by solving an optimization problem called “prosumer problem”. The model underlying the prosumer problem takes into account both thermal and electrical components at the same time. Experimental results show the benefits of this unified thermal and electrical model in terms of improved energy efficiency and reduction of energy costs.