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In recent years, global warming and environmental problems have become more serious due to greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Harvesting solar energy for production and logistic activities in supply chains, including factories and distribution centers, has been promoted as an effective means to reduce GHG emissions. However, it is difficult to balance the supply and demand of solar energy, owing to its intermittent nature, i.e., the output depends on the daylight and season. Moreover, the use of large-capacity solar power generation systems and batteries incurs higher installation costs. In order to maintain low costs, demand-to-supply management of solar energy, based on appropriate seasonal analysis of power generation and consumption and the capacity planning for power generation and the storage battery, is necessary. In this study, the on-demand cumulative control method is applied to actual power consumption data and solar power generation data estimated at a distribution center. Moreover, the monthly, seasonal, and temporal characteristics of power generation and consumption at the distribution center are analyzed. Additionally, the total amount of power purchased is investigated for solar energy demand-to-supply management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the grid-tied micro-grid context, energy resilience can be defined as the time period that a local energy system can supply the critical loads during an unplanned upstream grid outage. While the role of renewable-based micro-grids in enhancing communities' energy resilience is well-appreciated, the academic literature on the techno-economic optimisation of community-scale micro-grids lacks a quantitative decision support analysis concerning the inclusion of a minimum resilience constraint in the optimisation process. Utilising a specifically-developed, time-based resilience capacity characterisation method to quantify the sustainability of micro-grids in the face of different levels of extended grid power outages, this paper facilitates stakeholder decision-making on the trade-off between the whole-life cost of a community micro-grid system and its degree of resilience. Furthermore, this paper focuses on energy infrastructure expansion planning, aiming to analyse the importance of micro-grid reinforcement to meet new sources of electricity demand—particularly, transport electrification—in addition to the business-as-usual demand growth. Using quantitative case study evidence from the Totarabank Subdivision in New Zealand, the paper concludes that at the current feed-in-tariff rate (NZ$0.08/kWh), the life cycle profitability of resilience-oriented community micro-grid capacity reinforcement is guaranteed within a New Zealand context, though constrained by capital requirements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]