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Despite their advantages, distributed energy resources (DERs) bring inherent uncertainty and variability into the landscape of modern power systems. As DER penetration grows, conventional generators like hydropower plants have to respond more often to arrest the imbalance in the net load. Hydropower turbines provide their best operational performance with minimal wear and tear when operating at regions of maximum efficiency. However, the current needs for hydropower plants require them to operate under varying load conditions and thus sub-optimal operating points leading to additional stress. To relieve the hydropower plants, this paper proposes a hybridization strategy where a hydropower unit is paired with an energy storage system (ESS) to increase operational flexibility and mitigate damage to the hydro plant. Models are developed to represent the operation of the hybrid system, quantify degradation, and assess economic benefits. Moreover, an innovative controller disaggregates the market dispatch signal into separate control setpoints for the ESS and hydropower unit. In case studies performed on a real-world hydropower facility, it was found that the ESS-based hybridization can extend the life of the hydropower plant by 5% on average. The economic benefits from reduced maintenance and deferred investment are estimated to be around $3.6 million. • A hybridization strategy is proposed to pair energy storage with a hydro plant. • Energy storage helps increase flexibility and mitigate damage to the hydro plant. • Methods are developed to model the hybrid system and quantify degradation effects. • An innovative controller is designed to optimize the set points by component. • Economic benefits from reduced maintenance and deferred investment are assessed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ever-increasing electricity price and energy consumption in high-speed railway industry push railway companies to seek a promising way to realize their sustainable developments. Making full use of the solar resource along with high-speed railways can be a potential solution to cut the electricity bill, bring more profit to railway companies and realize the decarbonization of high-speed railway industry. This paper studies the optimal planning of distributed photovoltaic generation (DPVG) and energy storage system (ESS) for the traction power supply system (TPSS) of high-speed railway. A quantitative method is proposed to study the time and space characteristics of photovoltaic generation and electricity demand of high-speed trains. An integrated cost-benefit analysis framework is developed to evaluate the effect of DPVG and ESS on the economy of TPSS. To derive the optimal planning scheme and energy management strategy of DPVG and ESS, a mathematical programming model with the objective of minimizing the total cost is proposed to seek the most economical solution. A hybrid global optimal solution approach is developed to solve the model. A real-world case of Beijing-Baoding high-speed railway in China is used to illustrate the capability and characteristics of the proposed model. The computational results show that DPVG is able to supply 32.5 % electricity demand of high-speed trains. The integration of DPVG and ESS can help railway company save 4.2 million CNY each year in Beijing-Baoding high-speed railway. This paper demonstrates the potential and applicability of DPVG and ESS in high-speed railway industry. • A novel distributed photovoltaic generation model is proposed for the traction power supply system of high-speed railway. • A global optimal algorithm is provided to derive the most economical planning scheme and energy-management strategy. • Photovoltaic generation can help Beijing-Baoding high-speed railway save 4.2 million China Yuan each year. • Solar energy is able to supply 32.5% electricity demand of Beijing-Baoding high-speed railway. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Energy storage systems (ESS) are becoming one of the most important components that noticeably change overall system performance in various applications, ranging from the power grid infrastructure to electric vehicles (EV) and portable electronics. However, a homogeneous ESS is subject to limited characteristics in terms of cost, efficiency, lifetime, etc., by the energy storage technology that comprises the ESS. On the other hand, hybrid ESS (HESS) are a viable solution for a practical ESS with currently available technologies as they have potential to overcome such limitations by exploiting only advantages of heterogeneous energy storage technologies while hiding their drawbacks. However, the HESS concept basically mandates sophisticated design and control to actually make the benefits happen. The HESS architecture should be able to provide controllability of many parts, which are often fixed in homogeneous ESS, and novel management policies should be able to utilize the control features. This paper introduces a complete design practice of a HESS prototype to demonstrate scalability, flexibility, and energy efficiency. It is composed of three heterogenous energy storage elements: lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries, and supercapacitors. We demonstrate a novel system control methodology and enhanced energy efficiency through this design practice. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The development of electricity retailers with energy storage systems expands the energy use ways of users, promotes the consumption of clean energy power generation, and facilitates the development of electricity market. However, due to the imperfect trading mechanism and uncertainties of power supply and demand, the business risk continues to be large, which leads to limited sustainable development of electricity retailers. Therefore, based on the design of a trading mechanism of electricity retailers with energy storage systems in the electricity market, this paper constructs a multi-objective stochastic optimization model of the retailers' flexible purchase of electricity, aiming at minimizing the cost of electricity retailers and maximizing the consumption of clean energy power generation. In the model, the uncertainty of supply and demand and the demand response are taken into consideration. The results show that: (1) Compared with the conventional optimization model, considering the uncertainty in the medium-and-long-term electricity trading, although the demand for clean energy is reduced, the retail cost of temporary electricity in the day-ahead trading is also reduced. (2) The retailers make full use of flexible power charging and discharging, so the extra cost of purchasing electricity in the day-ahead trading caused by the uncertainty of clean energy is reduced via the energy storage demand response. (3) A price-based demand response can change the electricity purchase demand of retailers, improve the transaction volume between retailers and clean power enterprises in the medium-and-long-term electricity trading, and reduce the energy purchase cost while improving the consumption of clean energy power generation. (4) Due to the impact of initial investment cost and other factors, there is no obvious linear relationship between the capacity of energy storage systems and the reduction of retail energy purchase cost; therefore, it is necessary to apply energy storage systems reasonably to achieve the optimal economic benefits. • The trading strategy for ER-ESS participating in electricity market is formulated. • The energy storage and price-based demand response models are constructed. • The respective solving algorithms for the regular and uncertainty model are built. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• A multi-objective renewable energy management scheme is proposed. • Cost saving, green consumption and power quality are the main motivations. • A novel multi-agent system with three electricity use mode is developed. • Key implications and recommendations for policy makers are given. This paper proposes a multi-objective renewable energy management scheme to satisfy the needs of diversified community power consumers, wherein the multi-agent system is employed for coordinating and controlling the power generation and consumption units. Firstly, a multi-agent based microgrid and home energy management system is constructed. Subsequently, system models for renewable energy sources, electrical vehicles, residential loads and the cost function are constructed to form the microgrid operation constraints. With these constraints, three optimization models are proposed to minimize the electricity bills, the power purchased from the main grid, and optimize the power quality. The three objectives are proposed to reflect the power consumer's needs for cost saving, green consumption, and power reliability, respectively. Meanwhile, a coordination strategy which balances the three objectives is proposed. After that, a novel multi agent system is proposed to realize the proposed objectives. Four case studies and a sensitivity analysis are conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed method. The case study results show that: in electricity minimization, 2–6.5% of total electricity bills can be saved; in main grid power consumption minimization, the peaks of the power consumption profiles are shaved while the valleys of the profiles are filled; in power quality enhancement, the steady state frequency drop is reduced for 0.35 Hz to 0.38 Hz. The sensitivity analysis shows that communities equipped with energy storage systems accounting for 30% of the total load can achieve best optimization outcomes; the increase in renewable energy usage will lead to higher electricity bills and poorer power quality if the renewable energy sources are limited, while the availability of more renewable energy sources will compensate for the negative effects of using renewable energy sources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]