Economic analysis of a regional coordinated microgrids system considering optimal PEVs allocation

In this paper, the economic analysis of a regional coordinated Microgrids system (RCMS) considering the allocation model of plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) is proposed. Such a system is made up of a Residential Microgrid (RMG) and an Industrial Microgrid (IMG), and the two microgrids are already configured with optimized wind turbines and photovoltaic arrays. In this model, the PEVs are served as a mobile energy storage system, purchasing energy from RMG at off-peak times when electricity prices are low, and selling to the IMG when electricity prices are high. To minimize the total cost of RCMS, the optimal number of PEVs is figured out by means of improved particle swarm optimization (IPSO) algorithm. To research the factors affecting optimal PEVs number and cost of the system, the relationship of PEVs charging and discharging price is deeply analyzed. The proposed smart optimal allocation model is tested with case one and case two. The simulation results show that the total cost of the system is effectively reduced adopting the proposed model.