Gianni Bianchini

Gianni Bianchini, Marco Casini, Daniele Pepe et al.

This paper deals with the problem of cost-optimal operation of smart buildings that integrate a centralized HVAC system, photovoltaic generation and both thermal and electrical storage devices. Building participation in a Demand-Response program is also considered. The proposed solution is based on a specialized Model Predictive Control strategy to optimally manage the HVAC system and the storage devices under thermal comfort and technological constraints. The related optimization problems turn out to be computationally appealing, even for large-scale problem instances. Performance evaluation, also in the presence of uncertainties and disturbances, is carried out using a realistic simulation framework.

Gianni Bianchini, Daniele Pepe, Antonio Vicino

This work deals with the problem of estimating a photovoltaic generation forecasting model in scenarios where measurements of meteorological variables (i.e. solar irradiance and temperature) at the plant site are not available. A novel algorithm for the estimation of the parameters of the well-known PVUSA model of a photovoltaic plant is proposed. Such a method is characterized by a low computational complexity, and efficiently exploits only power generation measurements, a theoretical clear-sky irradiance model, and temperature forecasts provided by a meteorological service. An extensive experimental validation of the proposed method on real data is also presented.