Enabling the Smart and Flexible Management of Energy Prosumers via the Energy Router with Parallel Operation Mode

With the increasing penetration of renewable distributed generations (DGs), large numbers of “energy prosumers” are emerging rapidly. There will be severe impacts on the utility grid if these renewable DGs are not managed properly. Smart electrical power devices which enable high flexibility in energy management, alleviation in harmonic pollutions and friendly interactions with the utility grid are needed urgently. To meet all these requirements, a novel energy router which enables a unique parallel operation mode to the energy prosumer is presented. Facilitated with a bi-directional DC/AC converter, a switch array module and a fuzzy logic based hierarchical control strategy, the presented energy router enables plug-and-play connections and reliable energy management for the energy prosumer. The switch array and the parallel mode enable the loads to be flexibly scheduled to reduce energy cost and improve system performance. MATLAB/Simulink model of the energy prosumer is set up and a fuzzy logic based hierarchical control strategy is implemented for transient power balance control in various operation modes. Simulation results have demonstrated high flexibility, stability and feasibility of the proposed energy router in energy management of the prosumer, which will contribute to the better utilization of the ever-growing renewable energies.