Applications of optimal industrial load management modeling in smart grids

This paper presents the application and validation of a previously proposed generic Optimal Industrial Load Management (OILM) model for industrial energy hubs in smart grids. Available data obtained from measuring campaigns are used for accurately modeling the customers' demand, considering electrical variables, material flow rates, and other relevant operating variables of the industrial processes for 2 industrial customers. The first customer corresponds to a water pumping facility with the objective of optimally dispatching a set of water pumps, and the second customer corresponds to an automotive manufacturing company where the schedule of the water-cooled chillers is optimized. The results show that the developed models are very accurate in predicting the power demand as a function of the main electrical and operational variables of the industrial loads studied, and that significant energy and peak savings can be obtained by applying the OILM model to these industrial customers, while improving operational procedures.