The Optimal Control Problem in Smart Energy Grids

Abstract

This chapter addresses the balancing problem that arises in smart energy grids. Because power generation from renewable energy resources is tied to environmental factors, supply is often fluctuating and decentralised. Minimising the imbalance between supply and demand is important for grid stability, as well as for economic considerations. Flexible appliances propose a means to achieve supply-demand matching by shifting their production or consumption in time. We take a distributed optimal control point of view: we formulate the problem as an optimal control problem and suggest solutions based on distributed model predictive control (MPC) methods. In particular, we aim to minimise the imbalance using demand response regulation and via Power-to-Gas facilities that offer energy storage. Furthermore, we discuss how demand response regulation can be embedded in the market structure of the Universal Smart Energy Framework. We present example simulations to demonstrate the viability of our approaches.

Robust, distributed and optimal control of smart grids

“…One of the main features of this contribution is that it relies on demand response thereby shifting the production or consumption of energy assets in time, allowing to reduce or avoid load peaks. This contribution is reported in [8].…”

“…In this section, following the exposition in [8], we discuss about supply-demand matching in smart grids. Then, an optimal control problem is formulated which seeks to minimize imbalance through demand response regulation and employing distributed model predictive control (MPC) algorithms for its solution.…”

Distributed Optimal Control of Smart Electricity Grids With Congestion Management

“…The MPC scheme that solves the distributed optimal control problem is called distributed MPC (d-MPC). For the performance analysis of the d-MPC approach, we refer to [7], [11], and also [24] for numerical simulations.…”