Optimal planning and scheduling of smart homes' energy hubs

This article presents a mathematical model for optimal planning and scheduling of smart homes' energy hubs (SHEHs). The electricity demand of the SHEH model is formulated and categorized into four different loads: lighting loads, delay intolerant loads (DILs), delay tolerant loads (DTLs), and other electrical loads (OELs). The SHEH also includes heat, cooling, and water demands. Lighting demand includes sunlight that illuminates the house during the day and the required electricity power for illuminating the house in the absence of daylight. Cooler/heater, freezer, and fridge are DILs and they cannot tolerate any electricity interruption. Washer, dryer, and dishwasher are DTLs which can be operated at different times. Electricity demand is supplied by wind turbine (WT), photovoltaic (PV), and combined heat and power (CHP). Electric vehicle-charging station (EV-CS) can be used as a backup for them. The heat demand is supplied by CHP and boiler (B). Thermal storage (TS) is used as their backup. Water demand is supplied via water pump (WP) and cooling demand is supplied by absorption chiller (AC). Simulation is applied to a residential building. General algebraic modeling system (GAMS) software is utilized to solve the problem. The simulation results demonstrate the electricity demand formed by the DILs, DTLs, lighting, and OELs. The sizes of the aforementioned SHEH components (WT, PV, CHP, EV-CS, B, TS, WP, and AC) are calculated. The SHEH is scheduled based on the mathematical model and the optimal size of the components. Finally, sensitive analysis is implemented to confirm the proposed approach.