Stochastic Operation of a Solar-Powered Smart Home: Capturing Thermal Load Uncertainties

This study develops a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) model for the optimal and stochastic operation scheduling of smart buildings. The aim of this study is to match the electricity demand with the intermittent solar-based renewable resources profile and to minimize the energy cost. The main contribution of the proposed model addresses uncertainties of the thermal load in smart buildings by considering detailed types of loads such as hot water, heating, and ventilation loads. In smart grids, buildings are no longer passive consumers. They are controllable loads, which can be used for demand-side energy management. Smart homes, as a domain of Internet of Things (IoT), enable energy systems of the buildings to operate as an active load in smart grids. The proposed formulation is cast as a stochastic MILP model for a 24-h horizon in order to minimize the total energy cost. In this study, Monte Carlo simulation technique is used to generate 1000 random scenarios for two environmental factors: the outdoor temperature, and solar radiation. Therefore in the proposed model, the thermal load, the output power of the photovoltaic panel, solar collector power generation, and electricity load become stochastic parameters. The proposed model results in an energy cost-saving of 20%, and a decrease of the peak electricity demand from 7.6 KWh to 4.2 KWh.