Cloud and machine learning experiments applied to the energy management in a microgrid cluster

Abstract - The way to organize the generation, storage, and management of renewable energy and energy consumption features has taken relevance in recent years due to demands that define the social welfare of this century. Like demand increases, other factors require grid infrastructure improvement, updates, and opening to other technologies that assuage the final customer needs. Precisely, the interest in renewable energy sources, the constant evolution of energy storage technologies, the continuous research involving microgrid management systems, and the evolution of cloud computing technologies and machine learning strategies motivate the development of this article. Tasks associated with a microgrid cluster like the integration of a considerable number of heterogeneous devices, real-time support, information processing, massive storage capabilities, security considerations, and advanced optimization techniques usage could take place in an autonomous and scalable energy management system architecture under a machine learning perspective running in real-time and using Cloud resources. This paper focuses on identifying the elements considered by different authors to define a cloud-based architecture and ensure the appropriately supervised learning functionality under a microgrids cluster environment. Namely, it was necessary to revise and run microgrid simulations, real-time simulation platforms usage, connection to a virtual server for microgrid control and set the energy management system using cloud computing and machine learning. Based on the review and considering the scenarios mentioned, this article presents a scalable and autonomous cloud-based architecture that allows power generation forecast, energy consumption prediction, a real-time energy management system using machine learning techniques.

Keywords - Cloud computing, Machine learning, Energy management system, Prosumer, Microgrid clustering, Renewable energy

DOI - doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2021.117770