Trust-less electricity consumption optimization in local energy communities

Abstract

Optimizing energy consumption in local energy communities is one of the key contributions to the so-called smart grid. Such communities are equipped with rooftop photovoltaic power plants or other forms of small power plants for local energy production. In addition, a number of appliances allow for shiftable energy consumption, e.g., heat pumps or electric vehicle charging stations. The ability to shift is, however, dependent on customer preferences. In this paper, we present a trust-less approach for optimizing the electricity consumption in a local energy community given forecasts of energy production and customer demands, along with constraints for shiftable loads. In larger communities, appointing a single party for managing load curtailment requires a high level of trust. In the proposed trust-less approach, all parties can independently propose optimal solutions for this optimization problem and then globally agree one one solution that meets the defined requirements to the greatest extent.