Optimal Energy Management of a Campus Microgrid Considering Financial and Economic Analysis with Demand Response Strategies

Abstract

An energy management system (EMS) was proposed for a campus microgrid (µG) with the incorporation of renewable energy resources to reduce the operational expenses and costs. Many uncertainties have created problems for microgrids that limit the generation of photovoltaics, causing an upsurge in the energy market prices, where regulating the voltage or frequency is a challenging task among several microgrid systems, and in the present era, it is an extremely important research area. This type of difficulty may be mitigated in the distribution system by utilizing the optimal demand response (DR) planning strategy and a distributed generator (DG). The goal of this article was to present a strategy proposal for the EMS structure for a campus microgrid to reduce the operational costs while increasing the self-consumption from green DGs. For this reason, a real-time-based institutional campus was investigated here, which aimed to get all of its power from the utility grid. In the proposed scenario, solar panels and wind turbines were considered as non-dispatchable DGs, whereas a diesel generator was considered as a dispatchable DG, with the inclusion of an energy storage system (ESS) to deal with solar radiation disruptions and high utility grid running expenses. The resulting linear mathematical problem was validated and plotted in MATLAB with mixed-integer linear programming (MILP). The simulation findings demonstrated that the proposed model of the EMS reduced the grid electricity costs by 38% for the campus microgrid. The environmental effects, economic effects, and the financial comparison of installed capacity of the PV system were also investigated here, and it was discovered that installing 1000 kW and 2000 kW rooftop solar reduced the GHG generation by up to 365.34 kg CO2/day and 700.68 kg CO2/day, respectively. The significant economic and environmental advantages based on the current scenario encourage campus owners to invest in DGs and to implement the installation of energy storage systems with advanced concepts.