Energy Storage Sizing and Siting in Microgrids

The objective of this study is to optimize the total investment and operation cost of an existing microgrid network such that it provides the maximum benefit. A mathematical formulation was developed to investigate this objective. Energy Storage (ES) is used to manage islanded microgrids with renewable energy sources. Investment and operation costs of generators and ES are compared to develop the least-cost longterm economic plan. A case study carried out considering a benchmark microgrid is presented to validate the developed formulation. The developed formulation selects the most economical generation or ES assets at optimal sites. If the microgrid has been built for a community where the electricity generated from conventional sources is very expensive, ES is economical to manage the demand and renewable energy supply variations. From cases studies, it is found that most of the battery technologies are economical for the considered ES options.