  This paper proposes an energy management scheme to maximize the use of solar
energy in the smart grid. In this context, a shared facility controller (SFC)
with a number of solar photovoltaic (PV) panels in a smart community is
considered that has the capability to schedule the generated energy for
consumption and trade to other entities. Particularly, a mechanism is designed
for the SFC to decide on the energy surplus, if there is any, that it can use
to charge its battery and sell to the households and the grid based on the
offered prices. In this regard, a hierarchical energy management scheme is
proposed with a view to reduce the total operational cost to the SFC. The
concept of a virtual cost (VC) is introduced that aids the SFC to estimate its
future operational cost based on some available current information. The energy
management is conducted for three different cases and the optimal cost to the
SFC is determined for each case via the theory of maxima and minima. A
real-time algorithm is proposed to reach the optimal cost for all cases and
some numerical examples are provided to demonstrate the beneficial properties
of the proposed scheme.
