Coordinated micro-generation and load management for energy saving policies

The paper describes a joint university-industry project aimed at defining hardware and software requirements for the development of a prototypical microgrid platform on existing sites able to manage generation resources and load. The paper describes an architecture developed for integrating existing software tools for on-line load monitoring and control and for management of in-site generation. The system acquires data from field and stores information on a server, from which an optimization tool gets data in order to perform its calculations and give the optimal set points to the programmable generation resources. Results are reported about experimentation at test sites with different generating units, such as cogeneration of heat and power (CHP) and/or renewable power generating units equipped with a real-time monitoring tool.