Optimal Microgrid Energy Scheduling with Variable Solar PV Generation

Minimizing operation costs of a microgrid, incorporating solar PV generation, while satisfying its load demand commitment is vital for enhancing the reliability of the main distribution grid. This paper presents an energy scheduling approach for a microgrid containing conventional generation along with variable renewable energy resources, namely, solar PV. The problem is cast as a stochastic nonlinear optimization problem, where the variability of the PV is described by the probability density function of the solar irradiance data. A mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) approach is then employed to solve the microgrid energy scheduling problem. Numerical simulations are performed on a six-bus microgrid configuration. Test results confirm the efficacy of the proposed approach.