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Decomposing Loosely Coupled Mixed-Integer Programs for Optimal Microgrid Design.

Authors :
Zolan, Alexander J.
Scioletti, Michael S.
Morton, David P.
Newman, Alexandra M.
Source :
INFORMS Journal on Computing; 2021, Vol. 33 Issue 4, p1300-1319, 20p
Publication Year :
2021

Abstract

Microgrids are frequently employed in remote regions, in part because access to a larger electric grid is impossible, difficult, or compromises reliability and independence. Although small microgrids often employ spot generation, in which a diesel generator is attached directly to a load, microgrids that combine these individual loads and augment generators with photovoltaic cells and batteries as a distributed energy system are emerging as a safer, less costly alternative. We present a model that seeks the minimum-cost microgrid design and ideal dispatched power to support a small remote site for one year with hourly fidelity under a detailed battery model; this mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) is intractable with commercial solvers but loosely coupled with respect to time. A mixed-integer linear program (MIP) approximates the model, and a partitioning scheme linearizes the bilinear terms. We introduce a novel policy for loosely coupled MIPs in which the system reverts to equivalent conditions at regular time intervals; this separates the problem into subproblems that we solve in parallel. We obtain solutions within 5% of optimality in at most six minutes across 14 MIP instances from the literature and solutions within 5% of optimality to the MINLP instances within 20 minutes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Details

Language :
English
ISSN :
10919856
Volume :
33
Issue :
4
Database :
Complementary Index
Journal :
INFORMS Journal on Computing
Publication Type :
Academic Journal
Accession number :
153606652
Full Text :
https://doi.org/10.1287/ijoc.2020.0955