Smart Energy Management for Smart Grids

Dear Colleagues,

The main goal of developing a smart energy management system is to help corporations, organizations, groups, and individuals use energy consumption data wisely in order to maintain and improve energy consumption. This is regarded as essential in the improvement of energy supplies, as it enhances access to more renewable energy usage at the household and community levels, which will also help with energy savings and CO₂ emission reduction.

Energy management can be defined as the conservation, control, and monitoring of energy in a smart grid. The main focus in this Special Issue is the investigation of the best energy management systems within micro-grids, households, and communities in order to share energy in a very efficient way. Three different energy sources shall be discussed in this Special Issue. First, the energy generated and distributed by the utility, representing the main source of electricity to consumers. Second, energy storage devices, which include battery storage, electric vehicles, and large-scale energy storage, where customers or third-party energy producers can store energy from the utility grid during lower price periods, and use it during higher price periods. Thirdly, renewable energy that is generated from natural sources, which are continuously replenished sources, thereby creating relative or total energy independence from the grid for customers.

Smart energy management can be carried out at two levels, households and community or households groupings. At the households or smart homes level, an energy management system should be installed according to consumer type and demand. Each consumer should be able to optimise its energy consumption and trading for comfort and profit. The energy management system can also offer participating smart active consumers incentives above passive smart consumers. Also consumers should manage their internal energies from utility, storage and renewables. A smart energy management system should take control of these energy sources in order to maintain better consumption. At the community level, sharing the available energy between household will help creating a kind of independence that will help sustain the grid.

This Special Issue on “Smart Energy Management for Smart Grids”, opens the door for research on the importance of developing smart energy management systems by designing smart techniques, mathematical approaches, and algorithms in order to take control of energy consumption in smart homes and community households. The wise sharing of energy in a community can be modelled in a mathematical way, as in the case of many applications using game theory to create a demand-offer equilibrium that help manage and balance energy consumption. Contributors can submit both comprehensive surveys and original technical contributions on energy management within smart homes and micro-grids.

Prof. Dr. Eng. Khmaies Ouahada
Dr. Eng. Omowunmi Mary Longe
Guest Editors

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