Open IoT Infrastructures for In-Home Energy Management and Control

This paper presents an IoT-based infrastructure that uses currently available technologies for the implementation of a complete energy management system (EMS). This solution aims to reduce the cost of energy and ease the integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) and energy storage systems (ESSs) at a consumer level. It integrates IoT-ready power converters, for DERs and ESSs, smart meters, smart sensors and actuators. A FIWARE IoT Platform has been used for the integration of different physical devices, data management, energy management algorithms, and data visualization. The full system has been implemented at IoT Microgrid Laboratory at Aalborg University. The proposed infrastructure presents numerous advantages such as providing more information to the EMS, which enables direct control of generation, energy storage, and consumption, as well as a seamless integration in any previous infrastructure as it uses wireless technologies. This also unlocks the implementation of complex algorithms that involve both generation and demand-side management, limited in a conventional EMS, due to the lack of data or actuation capabilities. Preliminary results are shown in this paper proving the operation of the EMS and the infrastructure.