Demand Response and Energy Storage for Zero Energy Residential Buildings

The EU climate and energy targets and the decreasing costs have been leading to a growing utilization of solar photovoltaic generation in residential buildings. However, even in buildings with the same level of yearly generation and consumption the mismatch between the demand and the photovoltaic generation profiles leads to high power flows between the household and the grid, which is an inefficient mode of operation. Therefore, new solutions are needed to increase the matching between the demand and the available generation. This paper presents a novel energy monitoring and control system which integrates a PV generation and storage system designed for the residential context. Such system increases the matching between the local generation and consumption using lithium-ion batteries as storage device and the rescheduling of washing and drying appliances and the control of thermal loads (e.g., refrigerators or HVAC) as demand response resources. The system is controlled with the objective to minimize the power flows between the household and the grid, as well as to reduce the costs of operation.