Field-Ready Implementation of Linear Economic Model Predictive Control for Microgrid Dispatch in Small and Medium Enterprises

Abstract

The increasing share of distributed renewable energy resources (DER) in the grid entails a paradigm shift in energy system operation demanding more flexibility on the prosumer side. In this work we show an implementation of linear economic model predictive control (MPC) for flexible microgrid dispatch based on time-variable electricity prices. We focus on small and medium enterprises (SME) where information and communications technology (ICT) is available on an industrial level. Our implementation uses field devices and is evaluated in a hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) test bench to achieve high technological maturity. We use available forecasting techniques for power demand and renewable energy generation and evaluate their influence on energy system operation compared to optimal operation under perfect knowledge of the future and compared to a status-quo operation strategy without control. The evaluation scenarios are based on an extensive electricity price analysis to increase representativeness of the simulation results and are based on the use of historic real-world measurements in an existing production facility. Due to real-world restrictions (imperfect forecast knowledge, implementation on field hardware, power fluctuations), between 72.2% and 85.5% of the economic optimum (rather than 100%) is reached. Together with reduced operation cost, the economic MPC implementation on field-typical industrial ICT leads to an increased share of renewable energy demand.