Microgrid Digital Twins and IoT

In CROM, this research and innovation area comprises the following frameworks:

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DIGITAL TWINS FOR ENERGY SYSTEMS AND MICROGRIDS

Following Industry 4.0, the forth-industrial revolution, and with the recent advances in information and communication technologies, digital twinning concept is attracting the attention of both academia and industry across sectors. According to Industry 4.0, the next-generation systems are the outcome of the evolution and convergence of new technologies such as onboard computation, advanced controllers, big data analytics, machine learning, and IoT. Adopting digital twinning concept, the real-time data streams from physical assets can be continuously gathered, processed, and analyzed along with the high-fidelity models to establish a digital mirror of complex physical systems and provide a great insight into their current and future operating status that can be used for real-time supervisory and control.

Digital twins (DTs) are defined as digital representations of potential or actual physical systems (assets) that are connected to the real counterpart via reliable communication links to establish bi-directional data exchange to present a dynamic, precise, and up-to-date model of the physical system (asset). Although the birthplace of twinning is in aerospace and aviation industries, DT rapidly found its applications in manufacturing, healthcare system for elderly healthcare services and remote surgery, urbanization and smart cities, petrochemical, automotive, and power systems.

The need for DT in MGs arose due to the growing complexity of systems and equipment, which require close inspection and timely maintenance. Specially, those assets, which are not easily accessible, require real-time remote monitoring and predictive maintenance. The increasing penetration of RESs into the MGs and the emergence of prosumers are also demanding accurate dynamic forecasting techniques as well as automatic learning of behavioral patterns of prosumers. Finally, the growing dependency of other critical infrastructures such as healthcare, transportation, telecommunication, water systems, etc. on electric systems demands a highly reliable supply of energy with the minimum service interruption and downtime. 

MGDT will support the accurate prediction of RESs power supply and prosumers’ behavior taking advantage of well-structured historical and real-time data and high-fidelity models. Benefitting from the enhanced situational awareness and predictive maintenance provided by MGDTs, the MGs’ resilience can be noticeably improved and the system/asset lifetime can be broadly extended. Accordingly, MGDTs will reduce the cost, optimize the performance of the underlying physical systems, and enhance the sustainability of the next-generation MGs.

IoT-ENABLED SMART HOMES, BUILDINGS AND RESIDENTIAL MICROGRIDS

At present, new market, regulatory structures and new energy services in the smart grid seems to be the response to profound changes in the way that energy should be generated, stored, distributed, managed and finally consumed. What makes the global challenge particularly severe is the essential role that energy is playing as a whole. In fact, ecological and sustainability awareness, comfort‐oriented consumers’ behavior, etc., are the factors which are becoming more and more complex to address especially when there is a massive input of smart devices combined with multiple operating systems taking into account interoperability and compatibility issues.

On the other hand, the world is changing rapidly thanks to the technology revolution having an enormous impact on our daily lives at work and at home. In fact, in conjunction with the Fourth Industrial Revolution (Industry 4.0), Internet of Things (IoT) paradigm seems to increase the visibility of energy consumption by providing intelligent and automated systems to improve comfort and energy efficiency through comprehensive solutions for connectivity, manageability, and security in the future smart grids.If there is an adaptation on the behavior of the prosumer devices based on the information that they receive such as electricity price, then energy consuming/producing devices will not be black boxes but can be adapted accordingly instead.

SELECTED RESEARCH AND PHD PROJECTS

• Open Virtual Neighbourhood Network to Connect IoT Infrastructures - VICINITY
  H2020-ICT–2015 - Period: 2016-2019
   
• Center for Data-Intensive Cyber-Physical Systems - DiCyPS
  InnovationFonden, Research Centre - Period: 2016-2021
   
• The Energy Internet – Integrating Internet of Things into the Smart Grid
  AAU Strategi - Talent Management Programme - Period: 2017-2019
   
• Cyber Security for DC Microgrids and Microgrids Clusters  - Tan Sen

• Energy Management Systems based on Energy Internet for Smart Homes - Babak Arbab Zavar
   

NEW IOT Core components and adapters

The VICINITY Cloud enables IoT infrastructure operators and Service providers to configure a virtual neighbourhood of connected devices and value-added services including the setup of sharing access rules between them through the user-friendly interface of VICINITY Neighbourhood Manager. Configuration of the virtual neighbourhood and sharing access rules are used by VICINITY Communication Server to setup communication channels between each VICINITY Node to control exchange of user data. IoT infrastructure operators and Service providers can search for devices and services in virtual neighbourhood based on semantic description of device properties, actions, events and service products & required inputs stored in semantic repository. Moreover, IoT operators, System integrators and Services providers can register the VICINITY Nodes (registration of the application API) to communication in peer-to-peer. The selected VICINITY Neighbourhood Manager functionalities are available through VICINITY Neighbourhood Manager API as well. The API can be used by any value-added services to improve the user experience for its end-users.

A VICINITY Node is the set of software components which maintains the user data exchange between peers in the VICINITY P2P network based on configuration of the virtual neighbourhood and sharing rules received from VICINITY Communication Server. For that purpose, VICINITY Node consists of the following 3 main components:

• VICINITY Gateway API and Communication Node;
• VICINITY Agent;
• VICINITY Adapter.

The VICINITY Adapter, which is a component provided by IoT infrastructure owner or respective system integrator, aims to simplify the adoption of IoT infrastructure in as simple way as possible. There are various adapters are developed, for instance, FIWARE-NGSIv2 adapter to offer access to a countless number of off-the-shelf IoT infrastructures based on this well-known framework, IoTivity framework adapter, Gorenje smart appliance adapters, IKEA light bulb adapter, and so on. The LabVIEW adapter is developed by AAU for AAU Energy Value Added Services.

Cross Domain Pilot Sites

The VICINITY platform is demonstrated on many different real-case scenarios, addressing cross-domain applications (Smart energy, Smart building, Healthcare and Mobility domains), showing the applicability of the proposed solution in different IoT ecosystems and revealing the value-added services that are achieved.

In particular, the four domains are being directly affected by the ongoing new market design in energy sector, new models introduction through digitalization in health and building domains and related customers’ requirements driven changes in transport domain.

The IoT Microgrid Living Laboratory - IoT-MGLab

The IoT-MGLab is a living demonstration laboratory that aims to implement and demonstrate cost-effective and comfort-aware energy solutions for future smart homes and buildings. This facilitiy enables an internet of things (IoT)-based infrastructure for a data intensive system and its interaction with end-users.
The laboratory also serves as a demonstrator to show the viability of low voltage DC and AC systems for future households which will enhance the energy efficiency, flexibility and reliability following Danish smart grid strategy.

*CLICK ON THE IMAGE FOR A 360°LAB TOUR

COLLABORATIVE PARTNERS AND SPONSORS

PRESENTATIONS

Selected Publications

• IoT Platforms, Use Cases, Privacy, and Business Models with Hands-on Examples Based on the VICINITY Platform.ISBN 978-3-030-45315-2, Springer. DOI 10.1007/978-3-030-45316-9
   
• Blockchain for Power Systems: Current trends and future applications. Di Silvestre, M. L., Gallo, P., Guerrero, J. M., Musca, R., Riva Sanseverino, E., Sciumè, G., Vásquez, J. C. & Zizzo, G., 2020, I : Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews. 109585.
   
• IoT-enabled Microgrid for Intelligent Energy-aware Buildings: A Novel Hierarchical Self-consumption Scheme with Renewables Wu, Y., Wu, Y., Guerrero, J. M., Vasquez, J. C., Garcia, E. J. P. & Guan, Y., Mar 2020, In : Electronics. 9, 4, p. 1-18 18 p., 550.
   

• Adaptive Protection Combined with Machine Learning for Microgrids Lin, H., Sun, K., Tan, Z. H., Liu, C., Guerrero, J. M. & Vasquez, J. C., mar. 2019, I : IET Generation, Transmission and Distribution. 13, 6, s. 770-779 10 s.

•  Experiments on a Real-Time Energy Management System for Islanded Prosumer Microgrids. Macana, C.A.; Pota, H.R.; Zhu, Q.; Guerrero, J.M.; Vasquez, J.C. Electronics 2019, 8, 925.

• Guest Editorial Special Section on Energy Internet. Guerrero, J. M., Guan, Y., Vasquez, J. C. & Sun, K., mar. 2019, I : IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics. 15, 3, s. 1753-1755 3 s., 8606128.

• Platform-based Load Scheduling Method by Considering Smart Parking and Smart Appliances.Y. Guan, W. Feng, E. J. Palacios-Garcia, J. C. Vásquez and J. M. Guerrero, 15th International Conference on Distributed Computing in Sensor Systems (DCOSS), Santorini Island, Greece, 2019, pp. 248-254.
   

• Open IoT Infrastructures for In-Home Energy Management and Control. Palacios-Garcia, E. J., Arbab-Zavar, B., Vasquez, J. C. & Guerrero, J. M., sep. 2019, Proceedings of 2019 IEEE 9th International Conference on Consumer Electronics (ICCE-Berlin).

• Guest Editorial Special Section on Energy Internet, J. M. G. Juan C.Vasquez, Y. Guan, and K. Sun, IEEE Transactions on Industrial Informatics, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 1753-1755, March 2019. doi: 10.1109/TII.2019.2891773
   
• Smart Inverters for Microgrid Applications: A Review. Arbab-Zavar, B.; Palacios-Garcia, E.J.; Vasquez, J.C.; Guerrero, J.M. Energies 12, no. 5: 840, 2019.
   
• Integrated Management of Energy, Wellbeing and Health in the Next Generation of Smart Homes. / Jaouhari, Saad El; Palacios-Garcia, Emilio Jose; Anvari-Moghaddam, Amjad; Bouabdallah, Ahmed. In: Sensors (Basel, Switzerland), Vol. 19, No. 3, 24.01.2019.
   
• A stochastic modelling and simulation approach to heating and cooling electricity consumption in the residential sector. / Palacios-Garcia, E. J.; Moreno-Munoz, A.; Santiago, I.; Flores-Arias, J. M.; Bellido-Outeirino, F. J.; Moreno-Garcia, I. M. In: Energy, Vol. 144, 01.02.2018, p. 1080-1091.
   
• Distributed Average Integral Secondary Control for Modular UPS Systems based Microgrids. Wei, Baoze; Gui, Yonghao; Marzabal, Albert; Trujillo, Santi; Guerrero, Josep M.; Vasquez, Juan. In: IEEE Transactions on Power Electronics, 2019
   
• Cyber Physical Energy Systems Modules for Power Sharing Controllers in Inverter Based Microgrids, Carlos A. Macana, Ahmed F. Abdou, Hemanshu R. Pota, Josep M. Guerrero and Juan C. Vasquez. In Inventions 2018
   
• Internet of Things for Modern Energy Systems: State-of-the-Art, Challenges, and Open Issues. Shakerighadi, Bahram; Anvari-Moghaddam, Amjad; Quintero, Juan Carlos Vasquez; Guerrero, Josep M. In: Energies, 2018, p. 1-23.
   
• An enhanced hierarchical control strategy for the Internet of Things-based home scale microgrid. / Guan, Yajuan; Quintero, Juan Carlos Vasquez; Guerrero, Josep M. Proceedings of 2017 IEEE 26th International Symposium on Industrial Electronics (ISIE). IEEE Press, 2017. p. 51-56.
   
• Using Smart Meters Data for Energy Management Operations and Power Quality Monitoring in a Microgrid”, E.J. Palacios-Garcia, E. Rodriguez-Diaz, A. Anvari-Moghaddam, M. Savaghebi, J.C. Vasquez, J.M. Guerrero, A. Moreno-Munoz, The 26th IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics (ISIE 2017), 19-21 June, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK, 2017.
   
• Potential energy savings by using direct current for residential applications : A Danish household study case. / Diaz, Enrique Rodriguez; Quintero, Juan Carlos Vasquez; Guerrero, Josep M. Proceedings of 2017 IEEE Second International Conference on DC Microgrids (ICDCM). IEEE Press, 2017. p. 547-552.
   
• M2M home data interoperable management system based on MQTT. / Bellido-Outeirino, F. J.; Flores-Arias, J. M.; Palacios-Garcia, E. J.; Pallares-Lopez, V.; Matabuena-Gomez-Limon, D. 2017 IEEE 7th International Conference on Consumer Electronics - Berlin, ICCE-Berlin 2017. Vol. 2017-September IEEE, 2017. p. 200-202.
   
• A Novel Hierarchical Control Strategy for the Internet of Things based Home Scale Microgrid, Yajuan Guan, Juan C. Vasquez, Josep M. Guerrero, IEEE International Symposium on Industrial Electronics (ISIE 2017), 19-21 June 2017, Edinburgh, UK.
   
• Efficient Energy Management for a Grid-Tied Residential Microgrid. Anvari-Moghaddam, Amjad; Guerrero, Josep M.; Quintero, Juan Carlos Vasquez; Monsef, Hassan; Rahimi-Kian, Ashkan.In: IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution, Vol. 11, 2017, p. 1.
   
• Real-Time Energy Management System for a Hybrid AC/DC Residential Microgrid Diaz, E. R., Palacios-Garcia, E. J., Anvari-Moghaddam, A., Juan. C. Vasquez, Guerrero, J. M. 2017 2nd IEEE International Conference On DC Microgrids (ICDCM 2017). IEEE, p. 1-6 6 p.
   
• Combined Solar Charging Stations and Energy Storage Units Allocation for Plug-In Electric Vehicles by Considering Uncertainties Yousefi Khanghah, B., Anvari-Moghaddam, A., Guerrero, J. M. Juan C. Vasquez 2017 17th annual conference of the International Conference on Environmental and Electrical Engineering (EEEIC 2017). IEEE Press, p. 1-6
   
• Advanced Smart Metering Infrastructure for Future Smart Homes. / Diaz, Enrique Rodriguez; Palacios-Garcia, Emilio; Firoozabadi, Mehdi Savaghebi; Quintero, Juan Carlos Vasquez; Guerrero, Josep M.; Moreno-Munoz, Antonio. Proceedings of the 5th IEEE International Conference on Consumer Electronics. IEEE Press, 2015. p. 29 - 31