Towards an IoT/Big-Data Platform for Data Measurements, Collection and Processing in Micro-grid Systems

RESs are clean and eco-friendly sources, and their abundance and renewable nature are among the most important factors for their integration into smart grid (SG) networks. The main challenge for this new electricity infrastructure is real-time monitoring and data processing, which requires new information and communication technologies (ICTs). A new holistic architecture of smart buildings is presented by improving the main layers of micro-grid (MG) systems. The proposed MG system combines ICTs/Big-data infrastructure, RESs/storage systems, energy management/control strategies, and electrical power grids. The main component of the energetic system is presented, which is installed in the deployed MG system. The MG system is structured into three horizontal layers: passive building layer, active building systems layer, and RESs system layer. These layers are monitored by one vertical layer for communication and ICTs integration. The vertical layer integrates an IoT/Big-Data platform to measure, analyze, predict, and forecast actions depending on the actual and predicted context. The MG system is a smart and active building that combines ICTs/Big-data infrastructure, RESs/storage systems, EM/control strategies, and electrical power grids. This new concept of a building is more interactive for both consumers and energy producers. Consumers will reduce the cost of their energy consumption based on the used control approaches, which take into account the real-time cost of the power and the predictive power generation for efficient demand/response management. Effective communication systems are necessary for the performance of MG systems operation and its practical deployment. A large number of distributed components, such as end-users, generators, and energy storage systems, require a reliable, sophisticated, and fast communication infrastructure to reach the mandatory of such systems. Communication technologies used in MG systems can be classified into two categories: wired and wireless technologies. Wired technologies include power line communication (PLC), serial communication (RS-422, RS-485, RS-232), and Ethernet. Wireless technologies include Zigbee, Z-Wave, and Wi-Fi. The installed platform collects data from the MG system, including power flow, temperature, humidity, wind speed, using a set of installed sensors. The gathered data is used to develop predictive control approaches for energy management in the MG system using new ICTs methods, such as machine learning algorithms and IoT. The proposed MG system presents a smart and active building that combines ICTs/Big-data infrastructure, RESs/storage systems, EM/control strategies, and electrical power grids. This new concept of a building is more interactive for both consumers and energy producers. The MG system offers the possibility to integrate new buildings' services, such as electrical vehicles, which can be used as a storage device to compensate the energy in the building by integrating the "Grid-to-Vehicle & Vehicle-to-Grid" techniques. The proposed MG system is a holistic architecture that combines ICTs/Big-data infrastructure, RESs/storage systems, EM/control strategies, and electrical power grids. This new concept of a building is more interactive for both consumers and energy producers, and it offers the possibility to integrate new buildings' services, such as electrical vehicles.