Transactive Energy Supported Economic Operation for Multi-Energy Complementary Microgrids

TLDR

Multi‑energy complementary microgrids can accommodate renewable energy thanks to abundant adjustable resources and flexible operation, but limited capacity and controllability hinder their market participation. This study develops a transactive energy mechanism‑supported energy sharing strategy to coordinate interconnected MECMs within a regional integrated energy system, explicitly accounting for renewable and load uncertainty. The strategy introduces an RIES operator that trades with the utility grid and employs stochastic programming together with an ADMM‑based distributed optimization of shared energy residuals to coordinate the microgrids. The approach provides clear economic interpretation by deriving shared electrical and thermal energy prices, and case studies demonstrate effective multi‑energy sharing with integrated demand response while the distributed algorithm converges easily, preserving individual MECM benefits and privacy.

Abstract

Multi-energy complementary microgrids (MECMs) provide an important means to accommodate renewable energy sources due to their abundant adjustable resources and flexible operation modes. However, limited capacity and controllability are the main obstacles that prevent MECMs from participating in the market. In this study, we develop a transactive energy (TE) mechanism-supported energy sharing strategy to coordinate interconnected MECMs in a regional integrated energy system (RIES), where the uncertainty of renewable energy and loads is taken into account via stochastic programming. An RIES operator is introduced to trade with the utility grid as an intermediate player between the electricity market and MECMs. For the TE mechanism, we employ alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) algorithm to achieve distributed optimization of energy sharing, which is based on the average of the shared energy residual over all MECMs. A clear economic interpretation exists in the method, wherein shared electrical and thermal energy prices can be obtained. Case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the multi-energy sharing scheme considering integrated demand response (IDR). Moreover, the distributed algorithm can be implemented and converge easily while respecting MECMs’ individual benefits and private information.