Strategic plug load management system for smart buildings with rooftop photovoltaic system

Demand side management (DSM) is an important aspect of modern smart grid with multi beneficiary nature in providing techno-economic benefits for consumer as well as utility. Consumers are allowed to make regulation in their energy consumption through informed decisions and utility can exploit the benefits like peak shaving, load levelling etc. Plug loads comprises a considerable amount of load in residential, office buildings and their parasitic load consumption when operating in non-active modes results in considerable energy consumption. In this paper, potential benefits of plug load management along with load shifting in DSM are examined. In addition to shift able and non-shift able in loads in load shifting, plug loads are classified into critical, non-critical loads and are managed based on their energy consumption to improve energy efficiency aspects of DSM. Further, algorithms for load shifting and plug load management for standby consumptions based on load priority are developed and applied. Simulation results are presented and discussed for various control strategies. Results demonstrates the effectiveness of proposed strategies to manage parasitic/standby loads in reducing overall energy demand and cost of energy. Results reveals the fact that, though parasitic loads of individual equipment are quite low compared to active load range, when controlled in aggregated nature can deliver potential benefits in making modern smart grid more sustainable through DSM.