Coordinated Scheduling of Virtual Energy Storage System for Optimal Microgrid Operation

Virtual energy storage system (VESS) is an innovatory and economical way to reflect conventional energy storage systems (ESSs) through utilization of the existing connected network assets represented by the flexible demand. By coordinating demand response (DR) from residential and commercial building’s HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) loads with load management technique, VESS can mitigate challenges of low carbon power system operation. This paper considers optimal operation model of microgrid considering VESS to reduce daily operating cost. The work contributes by developing a mathematical model of VESS utilizing residential and commercial building’s HVAC loads. This work proposes a mathematical framework based on linear switching model for continuous power inputs instead of binary values of power. Results demonstrates that available capacity of VESS conceptually behaves like electro-chemical batteries which reduces the overall cost of microgrid, whilst not compromising on consumer’s comfort.