ENCOURAGE

Objective

Create an effective solution to implement a system with embedded intelligent controls for buildings with renewable energy generation and storage, allowing building managers to:

• Directly optimise energy use in buildings: optimal control of internal sub-systems

• Enable active participation in the future smart grid environment: effective interaction with external world, including other buildings, local producers, or electricity distributors

Project Scope

These energy optimisation objectives will be achieved in three complementary actions:

• Developing supervisory control strategies that will be able to coordinate larger subsystems (heating, ventilation, air conditioning, lighting, renewable energy generation, thermal storage, etc.) and orchestrate operation of the numerous devices in such systems. Energy use in buildings will be optimised as a trade-off between occupants' comfort, energy costs and environmental impact, while considering people’s habits, weather conditions, electrical characteristics of appliances and devices, thermal characteristics of buildings, local energy generation and storage capacities and market conditions, such as existing tariff structures

• Through the development of an intelligent gateway with embedded logic supporting inter-building energy exchange. This brokerage agent will communicate directly with other buildings and local producers to negotiate possible use of the electricity produced locally in their premises. This mechanism will aim to increase interoperability of buildings and will address challenges related to deployment the future Smart Grid concepts and technologies

• Developing novel virtual sub-metering technologies and event-based middleware applications that will support advanced monitoring and diagnostics concepts. Systematic performance monitoring will ensure the achieved savings are sustained over a long period without being degraded by deteriorated performance of both mechanical equipment and the monitoring and control system itself