World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology

International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering

Vol:8, No:5, 2014

Smart Grid Simulator

Andrei Ursachi, Dorin Bordeasu

has to be paid. Another important fact to be considered is that

Abstract—The Smart Grid Simulator is a computer software the price for electrical power is fluctuating, therefore more
based on advance algorithms which has as the main purpose to lower money spent.
the energy bill in the most optimized price efficient way as possible Furthermore, nowadays we have access to vast quantity of
for private households, companies or energy providers. It combines information, from weather forecast (temperature, weather
the energy provided by a number of solar modules and wind turbines
with the consumption of one household or a cluster of nearby conditions, wind speed and even sun and sky conditions) to
households and information regarding weather conditions and energy production prices of energy for the following day including
prices in order to predict the amount of energy that can be produced fluctuations, peaks and off-peaks during the day. This
by renewable energy sources and the amount of energy that will be information can be used in predicting the amount of electricity
bought from the distributor for the following day. The user of the which can be produced by renewable energy sources, as well
system will not only be able to minimize his expenditures on energy as determining whether is better to consume the self-produced
factures, but also he will be informed about his hourly consumption,
electricity prices fluctuation and money spent for energy bought as energy, to store it for later usage and even sell it to overcome
Open Science Index, Electrical and Computer Engineering Vol:8, No:5, 2014 waset.org/Publication/9998211

well as how much money he saved each day and since he installed the grid starvation.
the system. The paper outlines the algorithm that supports the Smart The idea of Smart Grid Simulator depicted in this paper
Grid Simulator idea and presents preliminary test results that supports combines information regarding hourly energy consumption,
the discussion and implementation of the system. production energy prices before and after taxes as well as the
self-produced energy circumstances for the following day with
Keywords—Applied Science, Renewable energy sources, Smart a number of solar modules, wind turbines and a storage
Grid, Sustainable energy.
facility in order to:
I. INTRODUCTION • Predict the amount of energy bought from the distributor
for the next day on hourly basis

T HE way we receive our electricity has not changed much

in the past hundred years. Coal, nuclear or hydropower
plants send electricity through transmission lines to
• Lower the energy costs of the owner of the system by
lowering the electricity bill
• Optimize utilization of electricity during peak and low-
substations and on to transformers, through finer wires and
peak electricity production periods
smaller voltages until the transmission reaches our
• Raise awareness on the amount of energy used as well as
households. As the technology advances, sensors are being
the amount of money saved per day and since the system
installed all over the grid, informing the Utility facility in real
has been installed
time about the market’s demand in terms of energy, therefore
• Compare energy prices before and after taxes on hourly
lowering the possibility of a black out and giving opportunity
based
to use other sources of electricity, less reliable but green
energy, such as wind turbines and solar modules to be • Compare the amount of money spent on energy bough by
installed all over the grid. Due to these circumstances, using and without using renewable energy sources on
different companies or house owners started to mount solar hourly based
cells or wind turbines to produce their own electricity, in order • Run a brokering algorithm ensuring the energy is being
to buy less from the electricity company. But this comes at a bought/stored/sold when feasible for the system owner
risk, for example, if the owner is producing too much of its • Predicting the amount of energy that can be produced by a
own electricity the electricity companies are not able to sell number of solar modules/wind turbines
the proper amount; therefore instead of saving money they • Providing an energy storage facility
spend more. This is the result of an unbalanced energy grid. The Smart Grid Simulator principle can be used by
In terms of appliances, better and more sophisticated companies, energy providers as well as one or a number of
equipment is being used. From washing machines and dryers households connected to the same system, therefore
to electrical cars, each device is using a big amount of energy. introducing the idea of “friendly neighborhood”.
The bigger the quantity of electricity used, the more money
II. OVERVIEW OF THE SYSTEM
Andrei Ursachi has a Bachelor’s Degree of Engineering in Information and The following diagram depicts the overall idea of the Smart
Communication Technology from VIA University College, Horsens, Grid Simulator.
Denmark (e-mail: [email protected])
Dorin Bordeasu is currently studying Mechanical Engineering in VIA
University College, Horsens, Denmark (e-mail: [email protected])
Special thanks to M.Sc.EE Poul Væggemose (e-mail: [email protected]) for
guidance and supervision throughout the project, as well as to Jens Cramer
Alkjærsig (e-mail: [email protected]) for financial support.

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 8(5) 2014 542 ISNI:0000000091950263
 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Vol:8, No:5, 2014

storage tanks [7] or batteries can be used [8]. Further

investigations will occur.
In the end, the user is able to analyze the amount of energy
he will be able to produce on hourly basis for the following
day, the amount of money he will spend on energy bought as
well as the amount of money he saved for the specific day and
in total since he installed the system.
The entire software has been developed using LabView
from National Instruments, mostly because of its easy scalable
and modeling properties. An overview of the early
Fig. 1 Smart Grid System overview development stage of the system can be seen in the following
picture.
The information needed and how they are being used can be
described as follows:
• Meteorological Institute [1] provides the system with
information regarding the weather forecast such as the
temperature and the conditions for the next day. The most
important information represents the wind speed for the
Open Science Index, Electrical and Computer Engineering Vol:8, No:5, 2014 waset.org/Publication/9998211

following day, as this information is being used to

calculate the energy produced by the wind turbine.
• NASA Database [2] or any other source that can provide
information regarding the sun and sky conditions for the
following day. This information is being used in
calculating the amount of energy a number of solar
modules can produce.
• Nord Pool Electricity Stock Market [3] provides valuable
information regarding the energy pool prices of electrical
energy for the following day for all distribution zones of
Scandinavian countries. The website provides as well
information regarding the fluctuation of the prices over
time, such as peaks and off-peaks, information which is
mandatory in determining the best approach in the
algorithm (Section IV)
• Data regarding the production from the Wind Turbines [4]
and Solar Modules [5] is required in order to calculate the
amount of energy these sources can provide under
tomorrow’s weather circumstances.
• The Energy Consumption of a household, a number of
households or an institution on the specific day is needed
Fig. 2 Smart Grid System user interface
in order to calculate and predict the amount of energy that
can be consumed on the following day. Furthermore, this Features of the Smart Grid Simulator:
information is also needed in determining the best 1. Weather forecast for 2 days (red)
approach in the algorithm (Section IV) 2. Electricity produced by the wind turbine on hourly basis
The Smart Grid Simulator is based on advanced algorithm (blue)
that is using all the information depicted above in order to 3. Production from solar modules (yellow)
calculate and predict the amount of electricity will be bought 4. Production and distribution prices in Denmark for the
from the distributor based on the seven days hourly average next day (green)
consumption and stored energy from today plus the self- 5. Consumption of a household(or a cluster of houses) on
producing circumstances for tomorrow. It calculates when to hourly basis (purple)
use the self-produced energy and when to store it based on the 6. The amount of money the user has to pay for electricity
previous day hourly consumption and the following energy for each hour (black)
prices from distributor on hourly basis. It will choose whether 7. Battery storage status (brown)
is better to buy energy from the Energy Company, use the 8. Money saved for the specific day and in total (orange)
own-produced and stored energy or sell it in order to lower the 9. Money expenditures for electricity (the amount he was
electricity bill with maximum potency. In terms of storing the supposed to pay and the actual amount needed to be paid)
energy produced, hydrogen storage systems [6], thermal (dark purple)

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 8(5) 2014 543 ISNI:0000000091950263
 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Vol:8, No:5, 2014

10. Information regarding clearness index and daily radiation

(dark red)
11. Comparison between prices by using and not using the
system (blue marine)

III. DECISION ALGORITHM IN SMART GRID SIMULATOR

The main idea behind Smart Grid Simulator is i how to save
money by lowering the electricity bill as much as possible.
After getting all information depicted above ((Section III),
Smart Grid can decide the best approach in calculating when
to use self-produced energy, when to buy from the distributor
and even selling it back to the grid. The decision algorithm is
taking into considerations major possibilities in terms of Fig. 3 Energy stock market prices before and after taxes
buying/storing/selling energy per hour ensuring that at the end
of the day the customer will have the lowest expenditures for • The image above depicts production (blue and green) and
electricity.
ty. The possibilities taken into account can be stated as distribution (white and red) prices for Denmark in
follow: Dkk/KWh, as well as the distribution zones that include:
• When the production is bigger than the consumption, the Western Denmark (green and white) and Eastern
Open Science Index, Electrical and Computer Engineering Vol:8, No:5, 2014 waset.org/Publication/9998211

excess is being sold back to the grid Denmark (blue and red). A visible change in the price ca
can
• When the production is not enough to cover the be seen throughout the entire day for both distribution
consumption, the amount needed eeded to fulfill the usage of zones.
energy is being bought from the distributor
• When the production is bigger than the consumption, the
excess is being stored in a battery either for later usage or
selling
• Using from the battery the necessary energy to cover the
consumption for the specific hour
• Sell everything from the battery and the produced energy
for that specific hour back to the grid
• Buy the necessary energy in order to assure the difference
between the consumption, production and a full battery.
Being a preliminary version of the algorithm, there are
constrains in terms of using the battery. For example, each Fig. 4 Prices per hour when using and without using renewable
time when the energy is being sold from the battery to the energy sources
grid, the entire quantity of electricity is being disposed, and
each time when the energy is being bought from tthe grid in • The image above depicts the amount of money spent
order to be stored, the battery will be fully charged. accordingly the consumption throughout the entire day by
An important factor to be noticed is that the last two both using (blue and green) and not using (red and white)
possibilities regarding the decision algorithm are part of the the Smart Grid Simulator system. This is done as well for
brokering capability of the Smart Grid Simulation. Each both distribution zones with the energy prices presented
country might have ave different regulations and policies above. It can be noticed when the renewable energy has
regarding the energy sold to the grid, therefore there might be been used, and when the system syst bought from the
some constrains in terms of brokering. In Denmark, for distributor in order to cover the consumption.
example, for the energy sold to the grid, only a sum of money
is being subtracted from the energy bill. IV. TEST RESULTS
Due to the fact that the entire decision algorithm is based on Several tests depicting different circumstances have been
whether the self-produced
produced energy from tomo tomorrow can cover simulated in order to find how Smart Grid Simulator is acting.
the consumption, Smart Grid Simulator is analyzing all the All the test results have been recorded properly.
properly
possibilities stated above. Afterwards, it will choose the best The scenario
enario depicted beneath is illustrating how the wind
approach for each hour ur in terms of using, storing, buying or turbine is working. Parameters used are stated as follows:
selling energy in such a way that by the end of the day the user • Energy production prices from 12.12.2013
of the system will pay the least to the distributor. For example: • Wind speed : 7.22 m/s
• No solar modules involved
• Empty storage
• Exchange rate: 1 Euro= 7.5 Dkk

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 8(5) 2014 544 ISNI:0000000091950263
 World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology
International Journal of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Vol:8, No:5, 2014

taken are based on seven days average hourly consumption,

stored energy from today and tomorrow’s energy production
and prices. The system could be connected to a database in
order to record all the information on which the decision has
been made that day and this information could be aggregated
and included in the algorithm to take, for example, seasonal
changes or habits into account. To make the system automatic
adjustable to historical data the artificial intelligence method is
considered.
Another idea is to extend it with a website and/or
applications for mobile or tablets, so that the system can be
remotely monitored and historical data to be accessed.
In the actual state, the energy production and energy storing
units are being simulated virtually. By creating an interface to
support actual hardware, all the information will be more
accurate and this will represent an important step in deploying
the system.
Setting different privacy levels is also part of a further
Open Science Index, Electrical and Computer Engineering Vol:8, No:5, 2014 waset.org/Publication/9998211

improvement of the system. In the actual state, there are no

limitations in sharing and viewing the information.
Finally, the biggest step would be to actual implement the
Smart Grid Simulator into a Smart Grid embedded system in
order to see how it is reacting in real-life situation.

VI. CONCLUSION
Fig. 5 Smart Grid Simulator simulation output This paper shows the application of leading edge
technology within the area of Smart Grid [9] and sustainable
Focus points: energy, implementing an autonomous system capable of
• Fluctuation of the production and distribution prices on a predicting the amount of energy bought from the distributor
24 hour period (blue) for the following day based on the consumption and stored
• Energy consumption covered by wind turbine and battery energy plus the self-producing circumstances as well as the
from 00.00 until 16:00 (the household does not need to energy prices for tomorrow. An overview of the system has
buy from distributor) (green) been presented as well as the key characteristics of the
• Lower prices for energy for the rest of the day (red) decision algorithm. In the end were presented test results
• For comparison of prices with and without using wind depicting a scenario from the prototype system. These results
turbine please refer to Dkk using wind turbine and Dkk to demonstrate the valid behavior of Smart Grid Simulator.
pay for today (only from producer). The first table
indicates the amount of money the user has per hour for REFERENCES
the energy bought from distributor. The second one [1] Meteorological Institute:https://www.dmi.dk
indicates the amount of money the user was supposed to [2] Nasa Database: https://eosweb.larc.nasa.gov/sse/
[3] Nord Pool Spot Energy Market: http://nordpoolspot.com/
pay if none of the renewable energy sources have been [4] Instance of the wind turbine used in the project:
used. (orange) http://www.windenergy.com/sites/all/files/3-CMLT-1338-
Furthermore, the user can see how much money he was 01_REV_J_Skystream_spec_.pdf
[5] Instance of solar modules used in the project:
supposed to pay for today, how much money he has to pay as http://www.kyocerasolar.com/assets/001/5349.pdf
well as how much money he saved for the specific day and [6] I.P. Jain, Chhagan Lal, Ankur Jain. Hydrogen storage in Mg: A most
since he installed the system. He will be as well prompted promising material. Elsevier International Journal of Hydrogen Energy,
Volume 35, Issue 10, May 2010, Pages 5133–5144
with different information such as the weather forecast for two [7] Performance Specifications for Thermal Stores, Hot Water Association,
days, wind speed, the amount of KWh/h the wind turbine GreenSpec 2010
produces, the amount of energy stored as well as the amount [8] Batteries http://www.freesunpower.com/batteries.php
of solar modules connected to the system and how many Kwh [9] Transition to Smart Grid http://www.ieee-pes.org/ieee-transactions-on-
smart-grid
they can produce for that specific day.

V. FUTURE WORK
The system offers a number of interesting areas for future
work. First of all, the current implementation does not take
historical data into account. In the actual state, the decisions

International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 8(5) 2014 545 ISNI:0000000091950263