Pressing environmental issues, security of energy supply sites, as well as their reliability in case of grid outages, drive research and development efforts toward renewable energy sources (RES) worldwide. RES however are volatile and intermittent, exhibit large fluctuations, and are certainly uncertain. Accounting for the uncertainty of RES is key to efficient management of distributed energy resources (DER), which include electricity generators, energy storage units (batteries) and programmable loads (such as smart appliances). These are the basic entities of a microgrid comprising a localized collection of DER that can operate in either grid-connected or islanded modes. Attractive features of microgrids include the ability to integrate constantly growing amounts of green energy, and highly reliable autonomous operation even in case of grid outages, e.g., under natural disasters. The overarching theme of this project is reliable and economic microgrid energy management that accounts for the uncertainty and volatility of high-penetration renewables.
In particular, this research addresses the major microgrid energy management challenges through development of (i) robust and risk-constrained methodologies, which adapt to the uncertain RES; and (ii) tractable, scalable, and decentralized control and coordination of DER units. One of the main features of this project?s research is scheduling of controllable DER, such as fuel-based generators, batteries, and smart appliances, in a way that guarantees system-wide efficiency objectives even in the face of unpredictable RES generation. Emphasis is also placed on development of scalable algorithms, whose complexity increases gracefully with the proliferation of generation and storage units as well as and controllable loads in microgrids, and modern distribution systems, in general. In a nutshell, this project contributes to significantly upgrading the analysis and design of microgrid operations
