Investigating a fast, reliable and cost-effective communication technology for managing residential loads

Power management has become an issue of concern in modern day. This thesis presents a research on methods used to identify a suitable communication technology that will assist households and ancillaries to know real time energy consumption and accordingly control and manage the power consumption of premises. To achieve this aim, an initial investigation into a suitable communication technology that can measure real time energy consumption of appliances is conducted and based on these results, necessary control approaches are proposed that manages residential loads efficiently. Utility companies can control home appliances by adopting control approaches with communication technologies. With the advancement in technology, remote monitoring has been made possible such that, from a central location, one can check the load connected against the supply and take the appropriate action (control method) in case of imbalance. Monitoring devices are kept at the load side and can transit this information wirelessly to the control centre. The effectiveness of such a system will thus depend largely on the accuracy and effectiveness of the communication technology being used. Herein, it is explained the different communication technologies that are being implemented in different places and compares them. At the end, a conclusion on which of them is the most effective will be drawn based on their performances. Based on this, the writer will explain how the chosen technology is applied in remote monitoring different household appliances. The technology will be used to generate reports which show the consumption patterns by the consumer and how this information can be used to create a balance in the grid lines will be discussed at the end