Model predictive control based scheduling method for a building microgrid

In this paper, a model predictive control (MPC) based scheduling method for a building microgrid was proposed. Firstly, a dynamic model to simulate heating/cooling energy consumption for a building was proposed. The model consists of several transient energy balance equations for external walls and internal air, in which the convective heat transfer, conductive heat transfer and heat storage in the heat transfer process are considered. The proposed model has been implemented utilizing the Simulink/MATLAB platform. Then, a MPC based scheduling method for the building microgrid considering the dynamic thermal characteristics of the building was proposed. The MPC method aims to minimize the total energy consumption of the building microgrid by combining the model predictive and the short-term control, and guarantees the customer temperature comfort level at the same time. Two comparative cases are presented to verify the effectiveness of the proposed MPC method. Numerical studies demonstrate that the proposed MPC based scheduling method can not only contribute to cost reduction, but also contribute to better renewables hosting capability for the building microgrid.