Constrained model predictive control for operation of a building-integrated microgrid

Abstract

Building energy consumption in Ireland makes accounts for 40% of total energy usage, so reducing building energy usage is of great importance. Building integration with microgrids offers a transition to a more energy and cost efficient infrastructure with more fine grained control being possible. To guarantee microgrid stability and efficient operation, this paper formulates a constrained model predictive control problem by using a simplified hybrid system model with logic constraints; and building load and energy price predictions for the dynamic energy management of the microgrid. In terms of a use case we focus on the microgrid installed at our research building comprising of a combined heat and power unit/boilers/storage tank/battery bank. The effectiveness of the proposed control algorithm is illustrated through numerical simulations.