Optimal operation of micro-grids considering the uncertainties of demand and renewable energy resources generation

Abstract

Nowadays, due to technical and economic reasons, the distributed generation (DG) units are widely connected to the low and medium voltage network and created a new structure called micro-grid. Renewable energies (especially wind and solar) based DGs are one of the most important generations units among DG units. Because of stochastic behavior of these resources, the optimum and safe management and operation of micro-grids has become one of the research priorities for researchers. So, in this study, the optimal operation of a typical micro-grid is investigated in order to maximize the penetration of renewable energy sources with the lowest operation cost with respect to the limitations for the load supply and the distributed generation resources. The understudy micro-grid consists of diesel generator, battery, wind turbines and photovoltaic panels. The objective function comprises of fuel cost, start-up cost, spinning reserve cost, power purchasing cost from the upstream grid and the sales revenue of the power to the upstream grid. In this paper, the uncertainties of demand, wind speed and solar radiation are considered and the optimization will be made by using the GAMS software and mixed integer planning method (MIP).