A Model Predictive Control Approach for Energy Management in Micro-Grid Systems

M G systems integrate renewable energy sources (RES) together with storage devices for being connected to the traditional electrical grid in order to supply the power to the building's loads. However, management and control approaches are required for seamless integration of these systems in energy efficient buildings. In this paper, a model predictive control approach is introduced for efficient MG operation. The proposed approach allows minimizing the usage of the traditional electric grid for supplying the power to the building's loads by using as much as possible the power generated by RES while optimizing the storage devices operations. A model predictive control (MPC) strategy is proposed in order to balance the power flow in MG system. The deployed strategy controls the charge/discharge current of the battery depending on RES production, and load consumption variability. Simulations have been conducted using real dataset generated from our deployed MG system, and preliminary results show the usefulness of predictive control principles for the efficient operation of MG systems.