This paper proposes an energy management scheme to maximize the use of solar energy in the smart grid. In this context, a shared facility controller (SFC) with a number of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in a smart community is considered that has the capability to schedule the generated energy for consumption and trade to other entities. Particularly, a mechanism is designed for the SFC to decide on the energy surplus, if there is any, that it can use to charge its battery and sell to the households and the grid based on the offered prices. In this regard, a hierarchical energy management scheme is proposed with a view to reduce the total operational cost to the SFC. The concept of a virtual cost (VC) is introduced that aids the SFC to estimate its future operational cost based on some available current information. The energy management is conducted for three different cases and the optimal cost to the SFC is determined for each case via the theory of maxima and minima. A real-time algorithm is proposed to reach the optimal cost for all cases and some numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the beneficial properties of the proposed scheme.

Journal paper