Optimal power scheduling in a grid-connected prosumer-only DC microgrid

With the growth of renewable energy adoption by home owners, prosumer-only microgrids could be the future of power grids, hence it is worthwhile to investigate them. Although their advantages abound, sophisticated energy management schemes may be required to ensure proper and optimal operation. In this paper, a mathematical model for the energy management of a prosumer-only microgrid (MG) is proposed. In the model, the excess/deficit energy is sent/sourced to/from an external utility, as well as down/up reserves which cater for uncertainty in predictions of prosumer power imports or exports. The model, which takes the form of an optimization problem, is solved using Gekko - a Python optimization package. Results show the advantages of a DC prosumer-only microgrid with prosumers having varying power import/export profiles over one with prosumer having similar profiles.