Smart microgrids are complex local energy systems where electricity generation, storage, consumption, and grid interaction need to be coordinated efficiently. In this PERKS use case, Josiane Parreira, Senior Key Expert at Siemens, explains how the PERKS platform can support the management and optimization of smart microgrids by making operational procedures more transparent, accessible, and easier to explore.
Learn more about Siemens and its role in the PERKS project in this short partner introduction video.
Siemens’ microgrid testbed in Vienna
The use case is based on Siemens’ microgrid testbed on the Siemens campus in Vienna. The testbed connects offices and factories with photovoltaic systems, energy storage, electric vehicle charging points, a microgrid controller, and the external energy grid.
Sensors collect electricity flow and related data across the system, while the microgrid controller gathers time-series data through integrated interfaces and stores it in a database.
Although optimization rules for energy usage are already generated automatically, they are not always sufficiently documented or transparent for users. The PERKS approach addresses this challenge by helping capture, structure, and make procedural knowledge more accessible.
How PERKS supports smart microgrid management
In this use case, PERKS supports the management and optimization of smart microgrids through:
- structured access to operational knowledge, helping users better understand how energy-related decisions are made within the microgrid
- procedural knowledge graphs, making procedures, dependencies, and optimization strategies easier to capture and explore
- execution tracking, supporting transparency around how procedures are applied and how operational decisions evolve
- chatbot-based access to information, enabling users to ask questions and retrieve relevant knowledge in a more intuitive way
- AI-supported knowledge management, combining human expertise with structured data and procedural knowledge
By combining these capabilities, PERKS can support more transparent, efficient, and sustainable management of local energy systems. Instead of relying only on technical data and automatically generated rules, users can better understand operational decisions, explore optimization strategies, and access relevant knowledge in a more user-friendly way.
The video offers a practical look at how AI-supported procedural knowledge can be applied in the energy domain and how PERKS contributes to more transparent and explainable smart microgrid management in practice.
What you will learn in this video
- how AI can support the management and optimization of smart microgrids
- how procedural knowledge graphs can make operational knowledge more transparent
- how execution tracking can improve traceability in complex energy systems
- how chatbot-based access can make technical information easier to explore
- how human expertise and AI-supported knowledge access can work together to support sustainable energy management