Multi agent system design for PV integrated home management

Abstract

This paper focused on an energy management cooperation concept for a dwelling photovoltaic/battery system. The application of multi-agent system (MAS) was investigated as a key technology to provide distributed flexible micro-network control. Indeed, in a multi-agent technique each function of the system is assigned to a separate agent, providing thereby a higher modularity and greater autonomy compared to a traditional system. The agents are usually tightly linked and communicate typically through messaging. The main task in this work was the design of a dynamic system of smart building loads and energy producing equipment, modeled by simple agents that communicate within a MAS approach. The major aim was is to set up an intelligent habitat system which components are able, through intercommunication, to make decisions and optimize energy consumption, without affecting the inhabitant comfort. To validate the elaborated design, different simulations were performed. The results show that this approach is able to reach optimal configurations.