Optimal scheduling of distributed energy resources by modern heuristic optimization technique

The increasing number and types of energy resources and prosumers has complicated the operation in microgrid greatly. Such problem becomes a hard-to-solve or even impossible-to-solve for traditional mathematical algorithms without necessary approximation. However, modern heuristic optimization techniques have proven their efficiency and robustness in complex non-linear, non-convex and large-size problems. In this paper, we propose a comprehensive microgrid which consists of renewables, distributed generators, demand response, marketplace, energy storage system and prosumers, and investigate the behaviors of such system. A novel heuristic method, artificial bee colony, is proposed to solve the day-ahead optimal scheduling of the microgrid. Case studies have shown that such algorithm is able to solve the problem fast, reliable with satisfactory solutions. For the first case, the computational time is 9 minutes compared with 19 hours by a traditional methodical tool which has not taken necessary approximation of the original problem.