Fair Mechanisms for Smart Grid Congestion Management

We consider energy systems in the built environment. With the transition to a more sustainable, distributed, and 'smart' energy system, such local grids are undergoing significant changes. Among other developments, the new role of end-users as 'prosumers' - users that can either produce or consume power depending on the situation - is turning...

Self-Organizing Multi-Agent Systems

In this thesis I research the ability of groups of agents to organize their collective behavior, without any human intervention. Using a framework for gathering information of the behavior, analyzing the performance, and updating the behavior, the agents can adapt to changing environments or user requirements. In my thesis I use different...

Just Energy? Designing for Ethical Acceptability in Smart Grids

Smart grids within the transition to sustainable energy systems Smart grid systems are widely considered as crucial in the energy transition, because they allow for greater flexibility in bridging temporal gaps between electricity supply and demand in renewable energy systems. To do so, the systems make use of information and communication...

Planning under Uncertainty in Constrained and Partially Observable Environments

Developing intelligent decision making systems in the real world requires planning algorithms which are able to deal with sources of uncertainty and constraints. An example can be found in smart distribution grids, in which planning can be used to decide when electric vehicles charge their batteries, such that the capacity limits of lines are...

Integrated Community Energy Systems

Energy systems across the globe are going through a radical transformation as a result of technological and institutional changes, depletion of fossil fuel resources, and climate change issues. Accordingly, local energy initiatives are emerging and increasing number of the business models are focusing on the end-users. In this context,...

Personalized Energy Services: A Data-Driven Methodology towards Sustainable, Smart Energy Systems

The rapid pace of urbanization has an impact on climate change and other environmental issues. Currently, 54% of the global population lives in cities accounting for two-thirds of global energy demand. Sustainable energy generation and consumption is the top humanity’s problem for the next 50 years. Faced with rising urban population and the...

Peak reduction in decentralised electricity systems: Markets and prices for flexible planning

In contemporary societies, industrial processes as well as domestic activities rely to a large degree on a well-functioning electricity system. This reliance exists both structurally (the system should always be available) and economically (the prices for electricity affect the costs of operating a business and the costs of living). After many...

Demand response policies for the implementation of smart grids

With the grasp of a smart grid in sight, discussions have shifted the focus of system security measures away from generation capacity; apart from modifying the supply side, demand may also be exploited to keep the system in balance. Specifically, Demand Response (DR) is the concept of consumer load modification as a result of price signaling,...

Empowering end-users in the energy transition: An exploration of products and services to support changes in household energy management

Current discourse on smart grid deployment expects residential end users to play a more active role as co-providers in the electric power system. Their electricity consumption and production is considered a resource for balancing supply and demand in an electric power system with distributed generation. This means that, in addition to using...

Negotiation and Monitoring in Open Environments

Large scale, distributed, digital environments offer vast potential. Within these environments, software systems will provide unprecedented support for daily life. Offering access to vast amounts of knowledge and resources, these systems will enable wider participation of society, at large. An example is the Smart Energy Grid that increases...

Smart Power Grid: A Holonic Approach

The electrical power system provides vital support for the functioning of modern so- cieties. Driven by the growing interest in clean, reliable and affordable energy, the electrical power system is facing transitions. The share of renewable energy sources in electricity supply is growing. In addition, the end customers of electricity, such as...

The Power of Electric Vehicles - Exploring the Value of Flexible Electricity Demand in a Multi-actor Context

Electric vehicles (EVs) have the potential to play a crucial role in clean and intelligent power systems. The key to this potential lies in the flexibility that EVs provide by the ability to shift their electricity demand in time. This flexibility can be used to facilitate the integration of renewable energy sources by adjusting EV demand to the...

Coordinated Agent-Based Control for On-line Voltage Instability Prevention

Service interruptions have a significant impact on society and therefore the main objective of power system planning and operation is to ensure that they do not happen. Because voltage instability is one of the dynamic phenomena that may result in a system-wide blackout, this type of stability problem has been an important research topic for...

Novel Topology of Saturated-core Fault Current Limiter

Increasing levels of fault currents in utility grids are expected to result in mechanical and thermal overstresses of different power system components. To cope with these increased levels, expensive upgrades and replacements of currently employed Circuit Breakers might be required in the near future. Fault Current Limiters (FCLs) are expected...

Smart Heat and Power: Utilizing the Flexibility of Micro Cogeneration

Distributed generation (DG) contributes to a more sustainable electricity supply. Large-scale adoption of DG will bring radical changes to the traditional model of generation and supply as well as to the business model of the power industry. Furthermore, with innovations in information and communication technology (e.g. smart metering), energy...