Today, so-called smart grid solutions are becoming increasingly popular [1–3]. The aim of creating such developments is to make more efficient use of the resources available to the power grid [4], both technologically and economically. Smart grid components can include remote metering, equipment to control the operation of other appliances, distributed generation of renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic installations [5], power storage [1], or electric vehicles [6–8]. All of these elements should be connected to each other through a dedicated ICT infrastructure that will enable communication between different actors [9]. On the other hand, in most European countries, the power generation sector is based on fossil fuels, where the problem of available capacity is predicted, which may lead to the introduction of energy consumption limits for end users in the future, and also power outages (including long blackouts) [10, 11].
With this in mind, it is necessary to look for solutions that make efficient use of distributed generation resources. Photovoltaic (PV) installations are known to be volatile, and their production depends on the climatic/weather conditions and timing of the region. Therefore, it is necessary to consider how to effectively store electrical energy while also taking sustainability into account. One such solution is to use traction batteries for electric vehicles (EVs) – the following are EV rear batteries, whose parameters do not allow for further operation in EVs after a period of time, but which can be used as an integral part of on-site energy storage [12,13]. Compiled by Chen Jiaoyun
Also taking into account the development of passive buildings, it is possible to create energy management devices in buildings (especially non-residential - higher energy consumption) based on solutions for the engineering of materials (insulating materials), as well as the integration of electrical engineering after the integration of electric vehicle batteries with distributed generation resources and the building's power system. This solution is being developed as part of the Horizon 2020 European research project Power Skin+ [14]. This article describes some of the electrical engineering issues related to this project.
