On simulating the effect on the energy efficiency of smart grid technologies

Most residential-used electricity is nowadays generated at inefficient central power plants consuming environmental unfriendly resources like coal or natural gas. However, a trend towards distributed generation, distributed storage and demand side load management is seen to improve the energy efficiency. In order to analyze the impact and requirements of these emerging technologies and control methodologies, good simulation models and software is required. In this paper, an improved simulator is presented to model (domestic) energy usage to analyze control strategies and improved technology on the system as a whole. Compared to the previous model, this model is more expressive and allows more future scenarios to be analyzed. Due to the added complexity, the model is extended such that the simulation can be distributed over multiple computers to reduce simulation time.