Simulation platform for micro-grids with demand-side management

Pressure is mounting from both ends of the power system on global system controllers. From the supply side they must deal with the implications of government-led climate change mitigation strategies; and on the demand side, new energy intensive technologies such as electric vehicles promise to drastically re-shape residential electricity demand profiles. Concurrently, controllers are faced with an ageing distribution network which is placing an aggressive cap on instantaneous and average power capacity. Some tools that system controllers can use to deal with this pressure are distributed energy generation, distributed energy storage and demand-side management. This situation provides researchers with an opportunity to innovate to shape the power system of the future. One option is the concept of the distributed generation demand control (DGDC) community or home. This paper offers a simulation platform upon which new energy management techniques for a DGDC system can be designed, built and tested with flexibility and ease.