Benders' decomposition applied to Energy Resource Management in smart distribution networks

This paper proposes a Benders' decomposition approach for the large-scale Energy Resource Management (ERM). The problem considers large amount of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) including Electric Vehicles (EVs) with gridable capacity. The proposed model is designed for Virtual Power Players/Plants (VPPs) managing a smart distribution network with the aim to maximize profits considering the day-ahead time horizon. Previous literature has shown difficulties in solving similar problems using classical techniques in a centralized scheme, namely considering nonlinear network constrains. The proposed approach reduces computational burden of the original Mixed Integer Nonlinear Programming (MINLP) problem. The Benders' cuts are introduced for the ERM formulation in order to allow the communication between the slave and the master problem. Analysis of two large-scale instances have been carried out for smart distribution networks, namely a 33-bus and a real Portuguese 180-bus network assuming high penetration of DERs and EVs.