Optimal Sizing of a Real Remote Japanese Microgrid with Sea Water Electrolysis Plant Under Time-Based Demand Response Programs

Abstract

Optimal sizing of power systems has a tremendous effective role in reducing the total system cost by preventing unneeded investment in installing unnecessary generating units. This paper presents an optimal sizing and planning strategy for a completely hybrid renewable energy power system in a remote Japanese island, which is composed of photovoltaic (PV), wind generators (WG), battery energy storage system (BESS), fuel cell (FC), seawater electrolysis plant, and hydrogen tank. Demand response programs are applied to overcome the performance variance of renewable energy systems (RESs) as they offer an efficient solution for many problems such as generation cost, high demand peak to average ratios, and assist grid reliability during peak load periods. Real-Time Pricing (RTP), which is deployed in this work, is one of the main price-based demand response groups used to regulate electricity consumption of consumers. Four case studies are considered to confirm the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed schemes. Mixed-Integer Linear Programming (MILP) is utilized to optimize the size of the system’s components to decrease the total system cost and maximize the profits at the same time.

Keywords

• microgrid
• RTP
• demand response
• sea water electrolysis plant
• MILP
• optimal sizing