Optimal sizing of a mini-grid in developing countries, taking into account the operation of an electrochemical storage and a fuel tank

Fioriti, Davide; Giglioli, Romano; Poli, Davide; Lutzemberger, Giovanni; Vanni, A.; Salza, Pasquale

doi:10.1109/iccep.2017.8004834

Cited by 12 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 20 publications

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“…The literature regarding the optimal sizing of power systems under uncertainties is very rich, especially for hybrid systems with multiple energy sources, isolated or linked to the national grid [10][11][12][13][14]. Typical methodologies iteratively simulate the operation of the system, testing several combinations of the size of the components [8,[15][16][17][18] in order to find the design that minimizes total system costs, also including reliability aspects and other socio-economic indicators [16,19].…”

Section: Uncertainties In Sizing Methodologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stochastic sizing of isolated rural mini-grids, including effects of fuel procurement and operational strategies

Fioriti

Giglioli

Poli

et al. 2018

Electric Power Systems Research

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The governments of developing countries struggle to guarantee the universal access to electricity on their territory and 1.2 billion people are still without any service, especially in remote areas. Hybrid mini-grids can be an effective solution since they exploit local renewable resources integrated with energy storage devices, reduce the use of fuel generators, and defer the construction of long and expensive grids until the growth of demand makes it profitable. Off-grid mini-grids are typically operated with simple load-following dispatching strategies, but predictive approaches can provide better performances, although at the expense of additional computational requirements. This paper investigates the benefits of using rolling-horizon dispatching strategies during the mini-grid design stage, also comparing how the optimal size of components is affected by several technical and economical parameters. Moreover, we propose the use of a stochastic sizing procedure that captures the uncertainties related to the load, to the renewable generation, and to the time required for the fuel procurement and delivery. A case study with real load data collected from an existing mini-grid placed in Habaswein, Kenya, is presented and discussed. The optimal sizing of some

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Section: Uncertainties In Sizing Methodologiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Stochastic sizing of isolated rural mini-grids, including effects of fuel procurement and operational strategies

Fioriti

Giglioli

Poli

et al. 2018

Electric Power Systems Research

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“…The mini-grid under investigation was then sized using an optimization tool that performs a probabilistic simulation of the operation of different possible size scenarios [11,36]. With this approach, the mini-grid is basically sized by searching the set of components whose yearly operation is expected to be the cheapest one, accounting both for CAPEX and OPEX.…”

Section: Comparison With a Probabilistic Approachmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The small deviations relevant to the optimal size of the battery and to the NPC are due to the slight differences existing between the dispatching strategies of the two tools. In fact, HOMER schedules the generators to meet the total demand and ensure an extra operating reserve of 10% of the load, which slightly increases the NPC of the mini-grid; conversely, the sizing strategy described in [36] is explicitly aimed at minimizing the NPC, which includes the cost of load curtailment. In rural areas of developing countries, the economic value of unserved energy is relatively low (around 1 €/kWh), so, in the case under examination, the best trade-off between CAPEX, OPEX and system reliability turns out to correspond to a small amount of load curtailment (0.4% of the yearly demand).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Table 5. Optimal size of the system with the probabilistic method described in [36]. To evaluate the benefits of using a predictive operational strategy instead of the simple load-following procedures implemented in HOMER and in [36], the mini-grid described in the last row of Table 5 was then re-simulated assuming a rolling-horizon infra-daily redispatching strategy of the batteries and of the diesel generator [11].…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Optimal size of the system with the probabilistic method described in [36]. To evaluate the benefits of using a predictive operational strategy instead of the simple load-following procedures implemented in HOMER and in [36], the mini-grid described in the last row of Table 5 was then re-simulated assuming a rolling-horizon infra-daily redispatching strategy of the batteries and of the diesel generator [11]. With this method, every 6 h, the load and the PV power profiles expected for the following 24 h are used by a MILP procedure that optimizes the use of batteries and of the diesel generator for the hours to come, by minimizing short-term operational costs; the capability constraints of power electronics, battery, diesel generator, renewable sources and fuel tank are duly taken into account.…”

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confidence: 99%

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Energy Production Analysis and Optimization of Mini-Grid in Remote Areas: The Case Study of Habaswein, Kenya

et al. 2017

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Rural electrification in remote areas of developing countries has several challenges which hinder energy access to the population. For instance, the extension of the national grid to provide electricity in these areas is largely not viable. The Kenyan Government has put a target to achieve universal energy access by the year 2020. To realize this objective, the focus of the program is being shifted to establishing off-grid power stations in rural areas. Among rural areas to be electrified is Habaswein, which is a settlement in Kenya's northeastern region without connection to the national power grid, and where Kenya Power installed a stand-alone hybrid mini-grid. Based on field observations, power generation data analysis, evaluation of the potential energy resources and simulations, this research intends to evaluate the performance of the Habaswein mini-grid and optimize the existing hybrid generation system to enhance its reliability and reduce the operation costs. The result will be a suggestion of how Kenyan rural areas could be sustainably electrified by using renewable energy based off-grid power stations. It will contribute to bridge the current research gap in this area, and it will be a vital tool to researchers, implementers and the policy makers in energy sector.

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An intelligent decentralized energy management strategy for the optimal electric vehicles' charging in low‐voltage islanded microgrids

Boglou

Karavas

Karlis

et al. 2021

Intl J of Energy Research

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Summary The expected significant growth in global electricity demand, followed by the adoption of green energy sources, led to the modernization of the energy distribution grids, such as the development of microgrids that can improve the reliability of the electric power system. Meanwhile, the increased integration of electric vehicles is expected to have a negative impact on power quality, normal operation, and investment costs of the microgrid. In this paper, a microgrid topology was studied for the islanded operation of a low‐voltage distribution network. The deployment of such energy management systems is essential to guarantee the safe and reliable operation of isolated microgrids. Hence, a decentralized energy management system, based on multi‐agent systems, was developed for the efficient charging of electric vehicles, by expanding a state‐of‐the‐art fuzzy logic controller‐based energy management strategy, in combination with a charging power controller, based on fuzzy cognitive maps. According to the authors' best knowledge, this is the first time that fuzzy cognitive maps theory is introduced in EVs' charging management problems. The performance of the proposed multi‐agent decentralized energy management system presented significant reduction in the investment costs of the microgrid, as compared with the use of a sole fuzzy logic controller‐based energy management strategy. The total cost of the microgrid for a 20‐year investment period is decreased by approximately 8.8%. Furthermore, the incorporation of the fuzzy cognitive maps‐based charging power controller leads to a significant amount of chargeable EVs. The mean chargeable EVs increased by 31%. Finally, the proposed energy management system reduces the peak load and load variances approximately 17% and 29%, respectively, without shifting and delaying the charging of the EVs. Hence, the proposed novel charging management system offers an intelligence approach for islanding distribution grids including the high penetration of electric vehicles by presenting operational and financial benefits.

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Optimal sizing of a mini-grid in developing countries, taking into account the operation of an electrochemical storage and a fuel tank

Cited by 12 publications

References 20 publications

Stochastic sizing of isolated rural mini-grids, including effects of fuel procurement and operational strategies

Stochastic sizing of isolated rural mini-grids, including effects of fuel procurement and operational strategies

Energy Production Analysis and Optimization of Mini-Grid in Remote Areas: The Case Study of Habaswein, Kenya

An intelligent decentralized energy management strategy for the optimal electric vehicles' charging in low‐voltage islanded microgrids

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