Choosing communication technologies for distributed energy management in the smart grid

The power grid evolves to a smart grid by connecting decentralised energy generators and consumers. To match their supply and demand, an energy management system is needed. However, this requires an information exchange between distributed entities and introduces the often overlooked challenge of limited communication technologies. This paper evaluates the communication behaviour of the distributed energy management algorithms COHDA, PowerMatcher and PrivADE. Using the smart grid simulator SiENA, the algorithms are simulated using wired broadband access, Power Line Communication (PLC) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology. Based on the evaluation and simulation results, recommendations are given on which algorithm to choose with which communication technology.