Optimizing energy use of SmartFarms with smartgrid integration

The demand for energy from renewable sources (RS) such as biomass, wind, and solar power is increasing as a result of concerns over environmental changes and global warming. This has resulted in the proliferation of distributed generation based on Renewable Energy Sources (RES). The appearance of Smartgrid and dynamic pricing enabled small players producing significantly small capacities to be able to sell their energy. As an energy consumer Agriculture also contributes to global warming. Furthermore because of increasing need for energy inputs to optimize production, Agriculture will continue to rely on energy to increase its productivity in line with increasing population and demand. It is therefore susceptible to being impacted by variabilities in energy supply and demand. Since agricultural enterprises also have potential to generate energy from agricultural residue, they can participate in Smartgrids as Smartloads and Smartgenerators. This work presents an integration model between SmartFarms and the Smartgrid. This way SmartFarms can participate actively and benefit from the energy market. It focuses on ways to improve the decision support systems in Smartfarms to enable optimal decision making. In this fashion, SmartFarms can support the reliable operation of Smartgrids while minimizing their expenditures on energy.