Multi-Energy Management of Buildings in Smart Grids

The ongoing energy transition from centralized, fossil fuel power plants towards distributed, low-carbon generation resources implies fundamental changes in the energy infrastructures and their management. In the multidisciplinary domain of the energy sector and its transformation, this work tackles the challenge of rethinking the engineering and operation of energy systems to make them more efficient, more sustainable, and smarter. Taking an interdisciplinary approach between Power and Energy Engineering and Information and Communication Technologies, the research presented herein is part of the field of Energy Informatics and aims at contributing to the development of energy systems that promote energy efficiency and sustainability beyond what pure, traditional engineering solutions can do. In particular, we focus on the challenges of the energy management with increasing penetration of renewable sources at three levels of the energy system, namely, buildings, local energy communities, and transmission grids.
The contribution of the present research to the field of Energy Informatics and smart energy systems is threefold. First, it lays the foundation for future smart home automation systems that can effectively contribute to building decarbonization. Second, it proposes a framework to mimic the dynamics of energy markets of the future, thereby giving more insights into the role of distributed resources in energy communities. Lastly, it provides the foundations for a new generation of planning tools for the transmission infrastructure that will rely both on robust and efficient networks allowing for high penetration of renewables.