Net energy meter with appliance control and bi-directional communication capability

Various energy management strategies include distributed generation of electricity using renewable resources, distributed storage, effective control of smart appliances leading to energy conservation etc. The concepts like net zero energy buildings, roof top renewable generation and affordable storage schemes demand intelligent devices with net metering, appliance control and bi-directional communication capabilities. This paper, proposes a smart home controller which is capable of doing net metering, smart appliance control and bi-directional communication with utility and user. Smart Home Controller (SHC) is implemented using LPC2148 microcontroller, in which the net meter value is computed by offsetting the energy consumed from grid with the energy send back to the grid. RF communication module is interfaced to the controller so as to communicate with the room controllers for appliance control. Utility as well as consumers can access this device through GSM messages; providing consumer integration to grid.