Privacy-Protecting Energy Management Unit through Model-Distribution Predictive Control

The roll-out of smart meters in electricity networks introduces risks for consumer privacy due to increased measurement frequency and granularity. Through various Non-Intrusive Load Monitoring techniques, consumer behavior may be inferred from their metering data. In this paper, we propose an energy management method that reduces energy cost and protects privacy through the minimization of information leakage. The method is based on a Model Predictive Controller that utilizes energy storage and local generation, and that predicts the effects of its actions on the statistics of the actual energy consumption of a consumer and that seen by the grid. Computationally, the method requires solving a Mixed-Integer Quadratic Program of manageable size whenever new meter readings are available. We simulate the controller on generated residential load profiles with different privacy costs in a two-tier time-of-use energy pricing environment. Results show that information leakage is effectively reduced at the expense of increased energy cost. The results also show that with the proposed controller the consumer load profile seen by the grid resembles a mixture between that obtained with Non-Intrusive Load Leveling and Lazy Stepping.Comment: Accepted for publication in IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid 2017, special issue on Distributed Control and Efficient Optimization Methods for Smart Gri

Integrating Optimal EV Charging in the Energy Management of Electric Railway Stations

In this paper, an electric railway Energy Management System (EMS) with integration of an Energy Storage System (ESS), Regenerative Braking Energy (RBE), and renewable generation is proposed to minimize the daily operating costs of the railway station while meeting railway and Electric Vehicle (EV) charging demand. Compared to other railway EMS methods, the proposed approach integrates an optimal EV charging policy at the railway station to avoid high power demand due to charging requirements. Specifically, receding horizon control is leveraged to minimize the daily peak power spent on EV charging. The numerical study on an actual railway station in Chur, Switzerland shows that the proposed method that integrates railway demand and optimal EV charging along with ESS, RBE, and renewable generation can significantly reduce the average daily operating cost of the railway station over a large number of different scenarios while ensuring that peak load capacity limits are respected.Comment: to appear in IEEE PowerTech, Belgrade, Serbia, 202