Energy Management in a Standalone Microgrid: A Split-Horizon Dual-Stage Dispatch Strategy

Microgrid technology has recently gained global attention over increasing demands for the inclusion of renewable energy resources in power grids, requiring constant research and development in aspects such as control, protection, reliability, and management. With an ever-increasing scope for maximizing renewable energy output, there is also a need to reduce the curtailment of power on both the generation and demand sides by increasing forecasting accuracies and using resources more effectively. This paper proposes a dual-stage dispatch employing a novel “split-horizon” strategy, in a bid to enhance energy management in a standalone microgrid. The split-horizon is essentially the considered time horizon split into equal operational periods of the dual-stage dispatch. The proposed strategy utilizes a custom-designed novel variant of the inertia-weight-based particle swarm optimization (PSO), termed customized PSO, to perform the optimal schedule and dispatch operation by benefitting from the simplicity of PSO and customization as per the considered objectives. A modified IEEE 34-node test system is derived into a standalone microgrid with added distributed energy resources to test the proposed strategy, while another standalone microgrid, a modified IEEE 69-node test feeder, is also considered for scalability. Furthermore, the validation of the strategy is performed appropriately with a case study while also validating the proposed optimization algorithm. It is observed that the proposed energy management strategy provides approximatelya 7% reduction in costs.