Artificial bee colonies based optimal sizing of microgrid components: A profit maximization approach

In this paper we present a swarm intelligence approach to tackle the optimal sizing problem of all the microgrid (MG) components. A model has been built for a grid-connected MG and comprises households, solar photovoltaic (PV) plants, wind turbines (WT) and energy storage (ES) systems. The goal is the maximization of energy savings benefits for the community being served by the MG. We choose to optimize the net present value (NPV) of the whole investment in a cost benefits analysis (CBA) scenario. In particular, due to the complexity and the high-dimensionality of the problem, we solved it using artificial bee colonies (ABC) algorithm. The effectiveness of the approach is tested in a case study where the optimal ratings for the PVs, WTs and ESs are determined using real weather and electrical demand data in the central east part of Italy.