Benefits of Energy Management Systems on local energy efficiency, an agricultural case study

Abstract

Energy efficiency is a concern impacting both ecology and economy. Most approaches aiming at reducing the energy impact of a site focus on only one specific aspect of the ecosystem: appliances, local generation or energy storage.A trade-off analysis of the many factors to consider is challenging and must be supported by tools. This paper proposes a Model-Driven Engineering approach mixing all these concerns into one comprehensive model. This model can then be used to size either local production means, either energy storage capacity and also help to analyze differences between technologies. It also enables process optimization by modeling activity variability: it takes the weather into account to give regular feedback to the end user. This approach is illustrated by simulation using real consumption and local production data from a representative agricultural site. We show its use by: sizing solar panels, by choosing between battery technologies and specification and by evaluating different demand response scenarios while examining the economic sustainability of these choices.