David Emanuel Rua

Abstract
The environmental impact on the energy sector has become a significant concern, necessitating the implementation of Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) to enhance the energy efficiency of buildings, reduce costs and greenhouse gas emissions, and ensure user comfort. This paper presents a novel approach to provide optimal day-ahead energy management plans in smart homes with Photovoltaic/Thermal (PVT) systems, aiming to achieve a balance between energy cost and user comfort. This multi-objective problem employs the Non-dominated Sorting Genetic Algorithm III as the optimization algorithm and the Nonlinear Auto-regressive with External Input to forecast the day-ahead meteorological variables, which serve as inputs to predict the PVT electrical and heat production in the thermal resistance model. The HEMS benefits from the time-of-use tariff due to the flexibility provided by the energy storage from a battery bank and a boiler. Furthermore, it performs a load scheduling for 10 controllable loads based on three feature parameters to characterize occupant behavior. A study case analysis revealed a cost reduction of approximately 66% in the solution close to the knee of the Pareto curve (S3 solution). The environmental impact on the energy sector has become a The PVT heat production was sufficient to meet the thermal demand of the showers. The proposed hybrid battery management model effectively eliminated the export of electricity to the grid, reducing consumption during peak periods and the maximum peak demand.

Abstract
The increasing number of IoT devices and digital services offers cross-domain sensing and control opportunities to a growing set of stakeholders. The provision of cross-domain digital services requires interoperability as a key enabler to bridge domain specifics, while inferring knowledge and allowing new data-driven services. This work addresses H2020 InterConnect project's Interoperability Framework, highlighting the use of semantic web technologies. The interoperability framework layering is presented, particularly addressing the Semantic Interoperability layer as its cornerstone to build an interoperable ecosystem of cross-domain digital services via a federation of distributed knowledge bases. Departing from a generic, ontology-agnostic approach that can fit any cross-domain use case, it validates the approach by considering the SAREF family of ontologies, showcasing an IoT and energy cross-domain use case.

Abstract
Electricity demand may vary significantly and consequently the generation side must be adapted to fully supply it. However, the increased penetration of variable renewable energy sources is changing the game by leading to an increase need of load response and load flexibility to face these changes from the generation side. Flexibility is highly related to the viability of Demand Response actions that can allow the participation of loads from buildings, clusters of communities, industry in market-driven energy services. Policymakers and energy stakeholders are beginning to prepare for a reality in which many consumers are also producers (prosumers) and operate with a significantly decentralized electricity grid. Also, the increased use of information and communication technologies is creating new opportunities for smarter control and load management schemes, interconnecting multiple demand-side stakeholders, where prosumers can leverage the potential for energy flexibility in demand-response programs. This chapter presents an overview of strategies to enable end-user participation in energy services, including building optimization schemes that provide load flexibility for the grid, as single users or as aggregated communities.

Abstract
The evolution of the electrical power sector due to the advances in digitalization, decarbonization and decentralization has led to the increase in challenges within the current distribution network. Therefore, there is an increased need to analyze the impact of the smart grid and its implemented solutions in order to address these challenges at the earliest stage, i.e., during the pilot phase and before large-scale deployment and mass adoption. Therefore, this paper presents the scalability and replicability analysis conducted within the European project InteGrid. Within the project, innovative solutions are proposed and tested in real demonstration sites (Portugal, Slovenia, and Sweden) to enable the DSO as a market facilitator and to assess the impact of the scalability and replicability of these solutions when integrated into the network. The analysis presents a total of three clusters where the impact of several integrated smart tools is analyzed alongside future large scale scenarios. These large scale scenarios envision significant penetration of distributed energy resources, increased network dimensions, large pools of flexibility, and prosumers. The replicability is analyzed through different types of networks, locations (country-wise), or time (daily). In addition, a simple replication path based on a step by step approach is proposed as a guideline to replicate the smart functions associated with each of the clusters.

Abstract
This study offers an overview of the H2020 InterConnect project, which targets the relation between smart homes and distribution grids. The project vision is to produce a digital marketplace, using an interoperable marketplace toolbox and Smart appliances REference Ontology (SAREF) compliant Internet of Things (IoT) reference architecture as the main backbone, through which all SAREF-ized services, compliant devices, platform enablers and applications can be downloaded onto IoT and smart grid digital platforms. Energy users in buildings, either residential or non-residential, manufacturers, distribution grid operators and the energy retailers will work together towards the demonstration of the smart energy management solutions in seven connected large-scale test-sites in Portugal, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Greece and France. This study depicts how InterConnect project will enhance the relation and the interconnectivity between smart buildings and grids safeguarding the definition of the role of each stakeholder in energy and non-energy services. © 2020 Institution of Engineering and Technology. All rights reserved.