IoT Cloud-Based Power Quality Extended Functionality for Grid-Interactive Appliance Controllers

Due to the myriad of loads that are collected into commercial grid-interactive efficient buildings (GEBs) focused on the industry 4.0 paradigm, it is important to ensure their proper electrical operation. The power quality (PQ) here requires a granular monitoring approach, reaching a point where each device connected to the microgrid can diagnose whether its power supply is optimal. Otherwise, it can participate cooperatively in decision-making to avoid anomalies or faults in the microgrid. In this work, we present cloud-based extended functionality to make smart appliances responsive to the grid, either autonomously or managed under the open automated demand response standard. Further to acting as a switch, the main strength lies in its PQ monitoring via the FIWARE Internet of Things (IoT) platform with data-driven analytics capabilities. It identifies and even predicts a broad spectrum of electrical disturbances, far exceeding the capabilities of previous solutions such as the grid-friendly appliance controller, so it is possible to customize a battery of alarms at will (e.g., according to IEEE 1547 standard). Moreover, although it can act autonomously, its main mission will be to act in a coordinated manner, either cooperatively or under the supervision of the GEB Energy Management System. Finally, different case studies are presented to show their capabilities. With the integration of these distributed submetering systems, under standards IoT wireless communication protocols, a further step will be taken in the advent of the digital utility paradigm.