Embedded networked monitoring and control for renewable energy storage systems

Energy storage plays an important role in managing effectively the integration of distributed renewable energy generation within the electrical networks of the future. Pervasive monitoring and control of these systems makes growing use of information and communication technologies, which aim at secure and economic operation at various scales from microgrids to system-wide integration. Among these, low power wireless communication and computing embedded systems, in the main form of wireless sensor networks (WSN), have become a robust solution. Through hardware and software architectures, along with appropriate mechanisms e.g. for data collection and aggregation, wireless communication protocols and standards, they represent a valid solution in assuring continuous and reliable operation. The paper introduces a cyber-physical framework for renewable storage systems monitoring and control and discusses the application of wireless sensor networks to densely instrument such deployments. A hardware-in-the-loop type structure is designed which allows both testing various types of real storage systems, as well as more complex simulated models derived from large scale applications. We argue that the specific advantages brought forward by the advances in WSN technology can be put to efficient use for local distributed intelligence and control. Experimental data collected is analyzed in order to achieve an insight into the characteristics of the proposed solution.