Concept for a hierarchical load control for domestic appliances in smart grids

Abstract

Domestic appliances of the category of "white goods" take an appreciable part of the total private electrical energy consumption. This paper presents a structure and strategy for optimal operation of white goods under circumstances of fluctuating electrical energy prices due to volatile generation of renewable energy sources. The proposed concept uses an decentralized energy management system, which is distributed over three levels of hierarchy: appliance level, household level and local distribution grid level. At the appliance level, unlike other approaches, this concept also takes into account the operational variabilities of the appliances.