Operation Scheduling Optimization for Microgrids Considering Coordination of Their Components

Abstract

Operation scheduling is one of the most practical optimization problems to efficiently manage the electric power supply and demand in microgrids. Although various microgrid-related techniques have been developed, there has been no established solution to the problem until now. This is because the formulated problem becomes a complicated mixed-integer programming problem having multiple optimization variables. The authors present a framework for this problem and its effective solution to obtain an operation schedule of the microgrid components considering their coordination. In the framework, trading electricity with traditional main power grids is included in the optimization target, and uncertainty originating from variable renewable energy sources is considered. In the solution, the formulated problem is reformulated to reduce the dimensions of its solution space, and, as a result, a combined algorithm of binary particle swarm optimization and quadratic programming is applicable. Through numerical simulations and discussions of their results, the validity of the authors’ proposal is verified.