The energy interaction between smart homes can be a solution for developing renewable energy systems in residential sections and optimal energy consumption in homes. The main objectives of such energy interactions are to increase consumer participation in energy management‚ boost economic efficiency‚ increase the user’s satisfaction by choosing between electricity sellers and buyers‚ and reduce the electricity purchased from the grid especially at peak hours. Thus, the innovations of this study includes defining an energy exchange method between smart buildings in an off-grid mode considering renewable energy systems, considering both thermal and electrical equilibrium and studying the lightning loads. it is assumed, here, that smart homes are off-grid‚ and the critical loads are supplied by the energy transfer between the homes using mixed integer linear programming. A compromise between the cost and time interval for using home appliances is considered to provide consumer’s comfort. An objective function is introduced considering programmable and non-programmable loads‚ thermal and electrical storages and lighting loads aiming to optimize the cost of energy between different smart buildings. Based on the method, which is tested in two different cases not only does the total cost of the smart buildings decrease but also the cost is reduced significantly when lightning loads are managed.

Introduction

The applications of hybrid energy systems have been studied with the focus on smart homes (SHs) and their optimal management in various studies. In (Yin, et al., 2017)‚ a hybrid DC Microgrid (MG) (based on power supply from photovoltaic (PV) cells) was investigated. This research shows that if the smart grid (SG) is in the off-grid state‚ the diesel generator with the electrochemical storage can be a better choice as a backup source. On the other hand‚ diesel generator cannot supply a stable power at the start-up. In (Arabul, et al., 2017)‚ the smart home loads are supplied by fuel cells (FCs), wind and solar energy resources. The method used in this research which is balancing and optimization of energy production and consumption using the Energy Management Algorithm (EMA), has been investigated. This method enhances the efficiency of the whole system improves the penetration of renewable energy sources‚ and increases the reliability of the system compared to conventional load shifting methods. In (Pilloni, et al., 2018)‚ the energy management method based on renewable energies in MG is presented., The energy sharing between SHs considering renewable energy participation is analysed in (Celik, et al., 2018). (Wu, et al., 2018)‚ adopt a method for energy management in SHs which is discussed considering renewable energy systems.