Simulation of smart domestic grid/stand-alone energy system

Abstract

During the years the energy demand by the loads in residential homes was supplied by the utility grid which resultant in hundred percent (100%) grid dependency and strain in the transmitting lines. Power cut from the utility and environmental issues raised the idea of having a more sustainable and clean energy generation due to the fact that most of the utility grid is generated from fossil fuel powered power station. Moreover, consecutive power cuts due to failure in the system or natural disaster for example earthquakes raised issues about the stability of grid utilization. Therefore, some people opted in having a small diesel generator to produce energy during blackouts, which cause noise, pollution and cost variation (in fossil fuel prices), hence despite the fact that diesel generators can produce energy during utility grid breakdown, they are inconvenient. The introduction of photovoltaic (PV) modules saw a large trend in producing clean energy from renewable resources. Once the price of the PV modules started to decline, PV modules began to be affordable, a convenient way of producing energy without harming the environment. One of the problems associated with PV modules is that the energy production is volatile and depends on physical and environmental factors which in turns result in loss of the energy generated hence feed in tariffs were introduced in order to encourage the people in investing in solar technology. In fact, most countries have seen a huge rise of PV installation in small area which result in system shut down due to an increase in voltage thus the PV feed in tariff was removed with the other option being, not only to generate your own energy but also storing your own energy. This introduced the concept of battery based grid-connected systems which can be backed by the utility grid or be totally self-sufficient from the grid.