198 IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 60, No.

2, May 2014

Smart Home Energy Management System

Including Renewable Energy
Based on ZigBee and PLC
Jinsoo Han, Chang-Sic Choi, Wan-Ki Park, Ilwoo Lee, and Sang-Ha Kim

Abstract — As home energy use is increasing and renewable provide easy-to-access to home energy consumption [1], [2].
energy systems are deployed, home energy management system This work considers a device control module to handle
(HEMS) needs to consider both energy consumption and networked home appliances; it does not consider the energy
generation simultaneously to minimize the energy cost. This consumption. A green HEMS that monitors, compares, and
paper proposes a smart HEMS architecture that considers both controls home appliances has been proposed [3], [4]. It does not
energy consumption and generation simultaneously. ZigBee- consider renewable energies. As solar and wind power system
based energy measurement modules are used to monitor the are deployed, energy management systems have been studied to
energy consumption of home appliances and lights. A PLC- enhance smart home [5], [6]. These works consider only
based renewable energy gateway is used to monitor the energy renewable energies, not the energy consumption.
generation of renewable energies. The home server gathers the In this paper, a smart HEMS architecture that considers both
energy consumption and generation data, analyzes them for energy consumption and generation based on ZigBee and PLC-
energy estimation, and controls the home energy use schedule
based renewable energy gateway (REG), respectively. The
to minimize the energy cost. The remote energy management
home server gathers both the energy consumption data through
server aggregates the energy data from numerous home servers,
ZigBee and energy generation data through the REG. By taking
compares them, and creates useful statistical analysis
information. By considering both energy consumption and into account both consumption and generation, the home server
generation, the proposed HEMS architecture is expected to optimizes home energy use.
optimize home energy use and result in home energy cost This paper is extended from a preliminary work [7]. The rest
saving1. of the paper is organized as follows. Section II describes the
proposed HEMS architecture in detail. Section III shows several
Index Terms — Home Energy Management System, ZigBee, implementation results for the architecture. Finally, section IV
Renewable Energy, Power Line Communication.
concludes this paper.
I. INTRODUCTION II. ARCHITECTURE OF HOME ENERGY MANAGEMENT
The current energy crisis has required significant energy SYSTEM INCLUDING RENEWABLE ENERGY
reduction in all areas. The energy consumption in home areas A. System Architecture
has increased as more home appliances are installed. Energy Although numerous efforts are taken for energy-efficient
saving and renewable energy sources are considered as methods home appliances [8]-[11], energy management can achieve
of solving home energy problem. Both energy consumption and more energy-efficient home. A new architecture for energy-
generation should be simultaneously considered to save the efficient home is proposed. A home has two parts concerning
home energy cost. energy: consumption and generation. Numerous home
Several researches have proposed home energy management appliances and lights are in the energy consumption part.
system (HEMS). Optimization of home power consumption Renewable energies such as solar and wind energies are in the
based on power line communication (PLC) has been studied to energy generation part. Because a home consumes and
generates energy, a control device like a home server needs to
1
This work was supported in part by the IT R&D program of MOTIE & monitor and control both energy consumption and energy
KIAT, Republic of Korea, under grant number R0002004, “Development of a
module-based communication and information processing technology”. generation to minimize the energy cost. Fig. 1 shows the system
Jinsoo Han is with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research architecture of smart HEMS that considers energy-consuming
Institute (ETRI), Daejeon, Korea (e-mail: [email protected]). home appliances and lights and energy-generating solar and
Chang-Sic Choi is with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research
Institute (ETRI), Daejeon, Korea (e-mail: [email protected]).
wind energy resources.
Wan-Ki Park is with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research In the energy consumption part, the energy consumption of
Institute (ETRI), Daejeon, Korea (e-mail: [email protected]). home appliances and lights is monitored through an energy
Ilwoo Lee is with the Electronics and Telecommunications Research
measurement and communication unit (EMCU) that is installed
Institute (ETRI), Daejeon, Korea (e-mail: [email protected]).
Sang-Ha Kim is with the Computer Science Engineering Department, in each outlet and each light. The EMCU measures the energy
Chungnam National University, Daejeon, Korea (e-mail: [email protected]). and power consumption of home appliances and lights; it
Contributed Paper
Manuscript received 04/01/14
Current version published 06/23/14
Electronic version published 06/23/14. 0098 3063/14/$20.00 © 2014 IEEE
J. Han et al.: Smart Home Energy Management System Including Renewable Energy Based on ZigBee and PLC 199

periodically transfers the measured values to the home server. information over time, it has numerous correlations between
The EMCU communicates with the home server using ZigBee energy generation and weather. Based on these correlations, the
which is well known as a low power communication [12]. The home server estimates the amount of renewable energy
home server gathers the energy and power data from the outlets generation from the weather forecast. The real-time price of
and lights through a ZigBee access point (AP). It analyzes the electricity can be acquired from the utility. The home server can
gathered data and makes the energy and power usage profile of manage and control home energy use based on the estimated
home appliances and lights. Through the home server, users can generation. Users can get various aspects of analysis about the
browse the energy and power information and figure out the energy information and various recommended control plans to
energy usage of home appliances and lights. optimize home energy use. They can access the home server
Renewable through smart phones to browse the home energy information.
Solar
Solar Energy
Energy Inverter Wind Energy If individual homes subscribe a management service, a remote
Gateway
energy management server (REMS) aggregates the energy
information from the home servers. The REMS analyzes the
Wind aggregated information and creates new information in many
Inverter Utility
aspects. Based on the created new information, the REMS
Room
#1
provides an energy portal service and helps client homes
ZigBe Smart compare their energy use with that of others. Users can figure out
Main
Meter Energy
Panel Management the average energy information of homes about generation as
Server well as consumption.
EMCU Room Home
#2 Serve
B. Home Server
Weather
The home server manages the EMCUs installed in outlets and
Server lights through a ZigBee AP. The home server monitors and
controls the EMCUs through the node control block. The device
PLC modem Internet table manages both home appliances and lights connected to the
Communication
AC Power
EMCUs. The home server identifies home appliances and lights
DC Smart Device using this table. The energy consumption data of home
Fig. 1. Architecture of smart home energy management (HEMS)
appliances and lights are stored in the information database. The
considering both energy consumption and generation. aggregated data are continuously accumulated over time. The
energy consumption manager (ECM) analyzes the aggregated
In the energy generation part, the energy generation of solar data over time, day, week, and month. It creates energy
and wind power system is monitored through an REG. The solar consumption information such as: energy use patterns of home
power system comprises solar panels, PLC modems, a solar appliance and lights; total energy use pattern of the whole home.
inverter, and an REG. A PLC modem is attached on each solar The home server figures out the energy consumption
panel; it communicates with the REG. The PLC modems monitor information of a home using this energy consumption manager.
the status of each solar panel and transfer the monitored status The REG transfers the status data of solar panels, a solar
data to the REG. The solar inverter converts solar dc power to ac inverter, and a wind inverter to the home server. The transferred
power; it monitors accumulated energy and transient power. The data describe the performance of each solar panel, the solar
solar inverter is connected to the REG through serial power system, and the wind power system. The data aggregator
communication. The wind power system comprises a wind gathers the transferred data and stores them in the information
turbine and a wind inverter. The wind inverter converts wind database. The home server uses weather data and stores them in
power to ac power. It monitors accumulated energy and transient the information database. The weather data is used to generate
power. The wind inverter is connected to the REG through serial the correspondence between energy generation and weather.
communication. The REG gathers the status data of the solar The energy generation manager (EGM) analyzes the renewable
panels and two inverters. It transfers the gathered data to the energy generation and draws patterns over weather. Solar
home server through Ethernet. The home server analyzes the energy generation relates to the solar radiation; wind energy
gathered data and makes the energy and power generation profile. generation relates to the wind speed. The EGM can estimate
As a key component of HEMS, the home server aggregates all renewable energy generation based on the weather forecast.
the information of energy consumption and energy generation. It Based on the estimated energy generation, the home server
has both energy usage profiles and energy generation profiles modifies the home devices schedule so that the energy cost is
over time. The home server estimates the amount of renewable reduces. For example, in the low renewable energy generation
energy generation based on weather forecast from Internet. The time and in high price time, the operation of several home
weather information includes temperature, humidity, cloud devices can be moved to other times when the price is low. The
amount, and wind speed. Because the home server already stores home server decides which operation is moved based on the
the past renewable energy generation versus the weather priority of the operation.
200 IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 60, No. 2, May 2014

The communication block supports data transfer between

Energy Energy Home the EMCU and the home server. It adopts ZigBee and IEEE
Consumption Generation Web User
Manager Manager Service Interface 802.15.4 wireless personal area network (WPAN) as
Information Device Data Schedule
communication methods. It transfers not only the measured
Database Table Aggregator Manager energy, power, and power factor but also the voltage and
current. Fig. 3 shows the data transfer message that is loaded
Node Control Server Interface
on the ZigBee payload. The MCU in the communication block
ZigBee TCP/IP controls the state of the power control block in response to the
IEEE 802.15.4 Ethernet WiFi command from the home server.

EMCU REG Smart Device

Energy Power Voltage Current Power
Fig. 2. Function blocks of a home server. Factor (2B)
(4B) (3B) (3B) (3B)
Fig. 4. Data transfer message format in a ZigBee payload.
The home user interface (UI) provides a variety of contents
about home energy information to home users. The UI shows D. Renewable Energy Gateway and PLC Modem
the energy consumption and generation information over time. In the energy generation part, the REG is a key component;
Users can browse and check the energy usage of each home it is connected to the PLC modems, the solar inverter, and the
appliance and each light; they can also figure out how much wind inverter. The PLC modems communicates with TCP/IP
energy is being generated and how much cost is being saved. protocol over PLC. They have their own IP address as an
The web service enables smart devices to access the home identifier. The connection manager controls connection with
server and search the home energy information. Users can the REG. The sensing agent measures the voltage and current
browse the home energy information through smart devices of a solar panel. The performance can be figured out from
anytime and anywhere through Internet. The home server those sensed data. The PLC modem transfers the sensed data
provides the contents to smart devices on demand. The smart to the REG.
devices can directly access the information using smart device PLC Modem Renewable Energy Gateway
applications. The home server transfers the home energy
information to the REMS that manages numerous client Sensing Data Data Data
Agent Manager Aggregator Sender
homes.
Connection Manager Connection Manager
C. Energy Management and Communication Unit (EMCU)
TCP/IP TCP/IP
In the energy consumption part, the EMCU is a key RS-
PLC PLC Ethernet 485
component; it is composed of measurement and
communication blocks [3]. The measurement block measures Home Server Inverters
the power, energy, and power factor of plugged home
appliances. It uses an energy metering IC for measuring them. Fig. 5. Architecture of a renewable energy gateway (REG) and a PLC
modem.
The metering IC measures the voltage and current in a sample
period; it multiplies them; it integrates them continuously. The
The REG has three communication interfaces: PLC for each
power and energy is calculated with this process. The power
solar panel, Ethernet for the home server, and an RS-485 for
factor is measure based the phase difference between voltage
inverters [13]. For typical network communication, TCP/IP
and current. The measurement block stores only the
protocol is used over PLC and Ethernet. The connection
accumulated energy data at a memory; it calculates the power
manager controls the connection with each PLC modem to
and power factor on demand in real time. The measurement
aggregate the status data. Solar and wind inverters are
block includes the power control block that supplies or blocks
connected through the RS-485 interface. The data aggregator
the electricity to connected home appliances.
sends a data request message to each PLC modem and
Communication Block inverters; it receives the status data. The data sender transfers
MCU Application the aggregated data to the home server periodically.
MAC E. Remote Energy Management Server (REMS)
ZigBee
PHY
Individual homes can subscribe the energy portal service
Measurement Block IEEE that is provided by the REMS. The home server in each home
Storage 802.15.4 transfers the home energy information to the REMS. The
client manager maintains the connection to the home server of
In Metering Power Out Protocol Stack
Control subscribers. The REMS aggregates the detailed energy
information from the client home server that provides the
Fig. 3. Energy measurement and communication unit (EMCU) and
energy use of home appliances and lights. The energy
protocol stack. generation information is also transferred. All aggregated
J. Han et al.: Smart Home Energy Management System Including Renewable Energy Based on ZigBee and PLC 201

information is stored in the information database. The REMS use over hourly time. Fig. 8(b) shows the statistical information
calculates the average, maximum, minimum energy usage about numerous homes. The bottom graph describes the energy
regarding homes and home appliances. The calculated use over time for comparison of each home.
information shows the standard energy usage pattern. It
motivates subscribers to compare their energy usage with that
of others and to reduce home energy use. The energy portal
service provides numerous subscribers with the statistical
energy consumption and generation.
Remote
Energy
Management Energy Portal Service
Server
Comparison Web (a) (b)
& Analysis Server
Fig. 8. User interfaces of the remote energy management server (REMS).
Home Client Information
Servers Internet Manager Database
Fig. 9 shows the back side of the miniaturized test set. The
TCP/IP prototype EMCU is inserted between an AC power line and an
Ethernet outlet. It measures and controls the electric power of the
outlets. Three EMCUs are installed: one for a light, two for
Fig. 6. Remote energy management server (REMS) connected to the home appliances. These EMCUs transfer the measured data to
home servers of subscribing clients. the home server using ZigBee communication.

III. IMPLEMENTATION RESULTS

The implemented results show several developed
components: home server, REMS, EMCU, PLC modem, and
REG. Those developed components are installed in the
laboratory and operated.
Fig. 7(a) shows the miniaturized test set that includes a
smart device, EMCU-installed outlets, a light and a solar Fig. 9. Energy management and communication unit (EMCU) installed in
power system. Fig. 7(b) describes the energy usages of home the miniaturized test set.
appliances and lights. Various usage patterns can be obtained.
Total energy use and cost are also shown. Users can select a Fig. 10 shows the developed hardware boards: a PLC
specific home appliance on the menu. Fig. 7(c) shows the modem and a renewable energy gateway (REG). The PLC
node mapping information. Home appliance and lights are modem is composed of two parts: a sensing and a PLC
mapped to a certain region in a home. Fig. 7(d) describes the communication as shown in Fig. 10(a). The sensing part uses
device lists and its properties. User can check the a hall-effect current sensor and a voltage divider to measure
characteristics of home appliances and lights. Fig. 7(e) shows the current and voltage, respectively. The PLC communication
the solar power system information. part uses a standard PLC technology interoperable with IEEE
1901 standard. The boxed region is a PLC PHY/MAC area.
Fig. 10(b) shows the REG that communicates with two
inverters through RS-485 interfaces and numerous PLC
modems through a PLC interface.
Communication
(b) (c) Part

Sensing
Part
(a) (d) (e)
(a) (b)
Fig. 7. Home server user interfaces. (a) Test set, (b) Energy usages of
home appliances and lights, (c) Mapping information, (d) Device lists, (e) Fig. 10. Components for renewable energy monitoring. (a) PLC modem,
Solar power system information. (b) Renewable energy gateway (REG).

Fig. 8 shows the user interfaces of the REMS. Fig. 8(a) IV. CONCLUSION
describes the electricity use data UI. The top graph shows the As residential homes have installed renewable energy
electricity use on months; the pie chart on the bottom left the sources to save the energy cost, it is important that both
electricity use ratio; the graph on the bottom right the electricity energy consumption and generation are simultaneously
202 IEEE Transactions on Consumer Electronics, Vol. 60, No. 2, May 2014

considered in HEMS. This paper proposes the smart HEMS [12] Hyung Seok and Jiwon Yoon, “Hybrid distribution stochastic addressing
scheme for ZigBee/IEEE 802.15.4 wireless sensor networks,” ETRI
architecture that considers both consumption and generation. Journal, vol. 33, no. 5, pp. 704-711, Oct. 2011.
In the energy consumption, the EMCUs are installed in outlets [13] Jinsoo Han, Chang-Sic Choi, Wan-Ki Park, Ilwoo Lee, and Sang-Ha
and lights to measure the energy usages of home appliances Kim, “PLC-Based Photovoltaic System Management for Smart Home
and lights based on ZigBee; they transfer the gathered data to Energy Management System,” in Proc. IEEE International Conference
on Consumer Electronics, Las Vegas, USA, pp. 542-543, Jan. 2014.
the home sever. With this scheme, the home server figures out
the home energy usage pattern. In the energy generation, PLC BIOGRAPHIES
modems are installed in each solar panel to monitor its status.
Jinsoo Han received his B.S. degree in Electronics
The REG gathers the status data of the solar panels based on Engineering from Yonsei University in Seoul, Korea, in
PLC and the generation data from inverters based on RS-485; 1998 and the M.S. degree in Electrical and Electronics
it transfers the gathered data to the home server. This PLC Engineering from KAIST in Daejeon, Korea, in 2000.
He is a Ph.D. candidate at Chungnam National
monitoring technology can monitor each solar panel for University, Daejeon, Korea. He joined the Electronics
maintenance. The home server can estimate the energy and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) in
generation based on a weather forecast. Using the obtained 2000. At ETRI, he was involved in the development of
optical communication systems and optical networks. He has also been
energy information, the home server can control the home engaged in the research and development of home gateway and home server
energy use schedule to minimize the energy cost. Users can systems, wired & wireless home networks, and power management systems.
access the home energy information through smart devices. His current research interests are wireless sensor networks, home/building
energy management, and green IT solutions.
The REMS provides the comparison and analysis of each
home energy usage. By considering both consumption and Chang-Sic Choi received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in
generation, the proposed architecture is expected to enhance Computer Engineering from Pusan National University,
home energy management and to save the energy cost. Korea, in 1997 and 1999 respectively. He joined ETRI
(Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute)
in Daejeon, Korea in 1999. He has been engaged in the
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