Analysis levels for improved user-centric energy cost analysis

Recent reports and outlooks on electrical energy show a persistently widening gap between electrical energy generation and electrical energy demand. Thus, energy costs are a significant determining factor in economic and social prosperity. Consequently, politics, industry and research focus on both exploitation of alternative energy sources for energy generation and development of concepts, methodologies and technologies to reduce energy consumption. A remaining challenge is energy analysis and optimization of complex systems, such as industrial automation systems. Individuality and dynamics of the system´s surroundings during operation time make it difficult to identify goal-oriented optimization measures. This contribution proposes a model-based user-centric approach for automated energy analysis of systems of industrial automation systems. The approach supports users in reducing their energy costs by automated generation and application of individual electrical energy optimization proposals. The goal is effort and complexity reduction by mapping elements and influences with impact on electrical energy costs to appropriate models for model-based analysis. The focus of this paper is on support for model creation by the introduction of hierarchical analysis levels that enhance user-centricity of the proposed approach.