Using Communication of a Model in a Energy-Management System

One embodiment of the present invention provides managing component driver for an energy-management system that manages energy within a predominantly closed power system. The component driver (108,110) includes a receiving mechanism configured to receive current status information for a component associated with the component driver, a model-construction mechanism configured to construct a performance model for the component, and a transmitting mechanism configured to transmit the performance model to an optimization and control module.