Employment of a DC microgrid for more efficient use of solar energy in household buildings

The changing needs of today's electricity consumers and the ever-increasing production of electricity from renewable energy sources (solar, wind, etc.) bring new challenges to the AC power grids, which were designed for different consumer needs and different energy management in them. The paper examines the characteristics of electricity consumption of households that have installed small power solar power plants and the resulting problems of efficient household electricity consumption. Aspects of more efficient use of energy produced from a photovoltaic (PV) plant, by reducing the losses of energy conversion by devices used in households are examined. The energy flows between the Distribution System Operator’s (DSO) grid and household three-phase microgrids are investigated. Some problems related to the inefficient use of PV energy due to the asymmetric three-phase microgrid load are analyzed. The paper suggests that these emerging problems can be partially solved by installing a DC microgrid in households.