Optimal Energy Operation and Scalability Assessment of Microgrids for Residential Services

Microgrid, as an emerging small-scale power system comprising a range of power sources, power electronic interfaces, loads, storage units, and being able to supply remote areas or local communities, either can be operated in islanded or grid-connected mode. Based on this concept, this paper proposes the scalability assessment and day-ahead optimization, with time-varying load and time-of-use tariff data in 48 time-periods, for multiple microgrids applied in the accommodation area in a UK university, based on an existing microgrid test system currently under investigation in its Smart Grid Laboratory. Four different scenarios, including weekdays and weekends over two seasons (summer and winter), are analyzed to achieve the optimal scheduling of the microgrid technologies. In addition, a long-term planning assessment, on optimization over 20 years, is presented to discuss the influence of microgrids' power component depreciation and life span on total energy costs and savings.