Two-stage Planning Method for Energy Router Considering Its Optimal Operation in Distribution Networks

Abstract

An energy router can effectively optimize the network loss and power quality of distribution networks. The optimal configuration of the energy router is relatively complex because issues dynamically influence each other, such as the location of the energy router, optimal number and capacity of its ports, and building new distribution lines for the ports. Presently, there has been very few research studies on the practical problems for the energy router. In this paper, a planning model of an energy router combined with the distribution network is established, which fully exploits the active and reactive power control abilities of the energy router to optimize the operation of the grid. The configuration problem is decoupled into two stages. The upper layer determines the location of the energy router and the parameters of the candidate new distribution lines for the ports. The lower layer calculates the optimal configuration of the energy router by minimizing the total annual cost. Because of the same rated bus voltage in the distribution network, the existing structure of the energy router is changed to be more applicable for the distribution network, and then the power flow model of the energy router is also modified. Due to the nonlinearity of the model, the planning model is converted into a mixed-integer second-order cone model to solve efficiently. In addition, some core factors influencing the optimal scheme of the energy router are also analyzed in this paper. Simulation results show that the optimal scheme of the energy router can significantly improve the economic deployment of the energy router, and optimize the network loss and power quality of the distribution network.

Keywords

• Capacity allocation
• distribution network
• energy router
• optimal operation