Load Side Management (LSM) for Solar PV household System

Abstract

In this paper we present a model of Load side management (LSM) control for household appliances that energized through on grid PV system. The intention here is to reduce the dependency on the grid operator to supply excess power above usual when there is PV intermittency. The proposed model of LSM control introduced here is to compensate for the reduction of power generated by solar PV system from its rated capacity by reducing the power consumption of the variable heavy loads depending on the power availability from Solar PV. This strategy was recently introduced for air condition systems employing variable fan speed. It was proved that using variable fan speed can manage energy consumption from the PV source and optimize energy utilization.  In the developed solution here, home heaters can be also managed as variable loads that adapt their consumption according to the energy available from the PV source. The model is based on using PWM (Pulse width Modulation) to control heating power. As a result, the heating time of the water to a certain temperature will be dependent on the energy availability. The developed algorithm uses measured values for available solar power and the heater thermal model in order to generate the suitable PWM signal that control the energy delivered from the PV source. The algorithm was tested using Matlab Simulink and the early results shows the validity of the proposed technique for Load side managements.