Water-Energy Co-Optimization for Community-Scale Microgrids

Abstract

A microgrid containing multiple energy sources typically serves localized loads in a small territory such as a small community and is intended to further improve the power security and sustainability for its service area. Since water supply is also very critical, this paper proposes a day-ahead water-energy co-optimization (WECoOp) model that simultaneously schedules both electric power and water for a community-scale microgrid. Therefore, the proposed WECoOp model will not only schedule distributed energy resources and exchange power with the main grid, but also manage local wastewater treatment, water storage reservoirs, and interaction with the main municipal water supply system. The necessary power and water related constraints are enforced in the proposed WECoOp model to ensure scheduling solutions are feasible and practical. To illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed WECoOp model, a benchmark case is established by implementing a normal microgrid energy management scheme while assuming the water is only supplied from the main water system. The case studies demonstrate the proposed water-energy co-optimization model can achieve significant operating cost savings.