Multi-physics operation and sizing optimisation in Pyomo: Application to large irrigation systems

The use of flexibility in the form of demand response, storage, or power flow control is a desirable feature for modern electricity distribution systems where uncertainty is a major concern. In this respect, we focus on large-scale irrigation systems characterised by seasonal high-power demand. Considering that most of the year there is a large volume of energy available in the form of stored water, demand flexibility, and the possibility of exchanging energy with the distribution grid are a viable way to provide storage-like network services. However, there is a lack of open source software available for the design and operation of these systems considering all of the physical effects involved. Thus, we introduce an open source Python-based tool to optimise the operation of irrigation systems, as well as size new equipment. Our library benefits from block formulation of the Pyomo package to generate large optimisation problems in a modular way. In this document, a detailed description of the developed package is given along with the presentation and analysis of a study case.