Distributed Control of Residential Energy Systems Using a Market Maker

The recent rapid uptake of residential solar photovoltaic (PV) installations provides many challenges for electricity distribution networks designed for one-way power flow from the distribution company to the residential customer. In particular, for grid-connected installations, intermittent generation as well as large amounts of generation during low load periods can lead to a degradation of power quality and even outages due to overvoltage conditions. In this paper we present two approaches to mitigate these difficulties using small-scale distributed battery storage. The first is a decentralized model predictive control (MPC) approach while the second is a hierarchical distributed MPC approach using a so-called Market Maker. These approaches are validated and compared using data on load and generation profiles from customers in an Australian electricity distribution network.