Integrating a Multi-microgrid System into Real-time Balancing Market: Problem Formulation and Solution Technique

This paper proposes the idea of integrating multiple microgrids into the balancing market to serve as additional power balancing sources in response to price signals. A bi-level optimization model is established to ensure the economic benefits of both the upper level distributed system operator and local microgrids. This is realized by developing KKT conditions of the lower-level microgrid economic dispatch problem and embedding them within the global optimization model. In addition, since the original problem is an optimal power flow problem with nonconvex constraints, convex relaxation technique is implemented to overcome the nonconvexity. Simulation results verify the feasibility of the proposed idea by demonstrating a fast and accurate multi-microgrid response in real-time scenarios.