An Artificial Intelligence based scheduling algorithm for demand-side energy management in Smart Homes

Abstract A new methodology, that combine three different Artificial Intelligence techniques, is proposed in this paper to solve the energy demand planning in Smart Homes. Conceived as a multi-objective scheduling problem, the new method is developed to reach the compromise between energy cost and the user comfort. Using an Elitist Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm II, the concept of demand-side management is applied taking into account electricity price fluctuations over time, priority in the use of equipment, operating cycles and a battery bank. The demand-side management also considers a forecast of a distributed generation for a day ahead, employing the Support Vector Regression technique. Validated by numerical simulations with real data obtained from a smart home, the user comfort levels were determined by the K-means clustering technique. The efficiency of the proposed Artificial Intelligence combination was proved according to a 51.4% cost reduction, when Smart Homes with and without distributed generation and battery bank are compared.