An optimization tool for the energy management of insular communities

Within this paper, an optimization framework will be presented that deals with the optimized energy production and planning for a small insular community, like it can be found in Greek and Mediterranean islands in general. The problem is analyzed by means of a mathematical model, based on the system's energy production units such as heat pumps, micro Combined Heat and Power (micro-CHP) units, conventional oil-fired burners, photovoltaic panels (PVs), wind generations and batteries for storage. Co-generation is gaining much of attention lately, especially when integrated to microgrid communities that may use the energy produced in a more flexible and hence way. Additionally, heat pumps are used extensively, as they seem to achieve greater efficiencies and cost reduction compared to the conventional energy production. For that reason, the objective function of the system is designed so as to minimize the total cost of the system and support the selection of the most effective energy production combination. The problem is solved based on a mixed integer linear programming (MILP). Additionally, a graphical user interface (GUI) is created and used for the representative input and output presentation of the optimization results in a comprehensive and attractive way. Three representative studies are presented, that demonstrate the possibilities of the tool developed concluding that 65% and 53% cost reduction is achieved for the micro-CHP and heat pump use respectively, compared to the conventional option.