Meta-Heuristic and Nature Inspired Approaches for Home Energy Management.

In this paper, an energy management controller (EMC) is designed using three optimization techniques: harmony search algorithm (HSA), firefly algorithm (FA) and enhanced differential evolution (EDE). The objectives of this work are to minimize electricity cost as well as peak to average ratio (PAR) while maintaining the user comfort (UC). Critical peak pricing (CPP) is used for the calculation of electricity bill. The trade-off between UC and electricity cost is exploited in such a way that a stability is achieved among UC and electricity price that is preferred by the consumer. Reduction in PAR is beneficial for both consumer and utility as it provides stability to the electric grid.