Optimal Operation of Combined Energy and Water Systems for Community Resilience against Natural Disasters

Abstract

One of the most critical challenges for modern power systems is to reliably supply electricity to its consumers during and in the aftermath of natural disasters. As our dependence on electrical power has increased over the years, long-term power outages can lead to devastating impacts on affected communities. Furthermore, power outages can halt the operation of water treatment plants, leading to shortages in clean water, which is essential during post-disaster recovery. One way to address this is to temporarily reconfigure power and water networks into localized networks, i.e., electric microgrids and water micro-nets, that utilize local resources to supply local demand independently of the main power grid and/or water network. Utilizing distributed energy resources such as wind and solar and treating wastewater locally for potable reuse can provide the operational flexibility for such systems to operate sustainably. However, due to uncertainties in both renewable energy generation and electric/water consumption, ensuring sustainable operation is a challenging task. In this paper, an optimal operational strategy is proposed for an islanded microgrid/micro-net, considering the stochastic nature of renewable energy resources, electric demand, and water demand. An energy storage system is modeled to address the uncertainty in power generation and demand, in conjunction with local water storage and wastewater treatment to accommodate variable water demands. A two-stage stochastic programming model is formulated and solved to determine an optimal operation strategy for the combined system.

Keywords

• energy optimization
• demand response
• electric microgrid
• natural disasters
• power system resilience
• water micro-net