Optimal Power Flow in Microgrids With Energy Storage

TLDR

Energy storage can improve power management in microgrids with renewable sources by matching generation to consumption, yet prior studies often ignore network connectivity and focus only on device constraints such as capacity and losses. The study aims to develop an optimal power flow solution that controls energy storage to balance renewable generation and minimize overall consumption while respecting device, voltage, current, and power limits. The authors formulate an optimal power flow model that incorporates storage, voltage, current, and power constraints and solve it with a solver that guarantees a globally optimal solution for arbitrarily complex networks. The proposed solver achieves a globally optimal solution even for arbitrarily complex power networks.

Abstract

Energy storage may improve power management in microgrids that include renewable energy sources. The storage devices match energy generation to consumption, facilitating a smooth and robust energy balance within the microgrid. This paper addresses the optimal control of the microgrid’s energy storage devices. Stored energy is controlled to balance power generation of renewable sources to optimize overall power consumption at the microgrid point of common coupling. Recent works emphasize constraints imposed by the storage device itself, such as limited capacity and internal losses. However, these works assume flat, highly simplified network models, which overlook the physical connectivity. This work proposes an optimal power flow solution that considers the entire system: the storage device limits, voltages limits, currents limits, and power limits. The power network may be arbitrarily complex, and the proposed solver obtains a globally optimal solution.