Optimized Operation of PV/T and Micro-CHP Hybrid Power Systems

Abstract

Specialists generally agree that Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) will play a key role in the next generation power systems. Photovoltaic (PV) solar panels are very important energy conversion methods, yet they suffer from low energy conversion efficiency, availability issues and fluctuating output. Photovoltaic/Thermal (PV/T) has been introduced as a way to increase the efficiency of the system by utilizing the co-generated heat. Combining PV/T with Combined Heat and Power (CH P ) units is considered as a promising approach to encounter the intermittent and availability issues of solar energy. Smart grids, on the other hand, create opportunities for intelligent coordination between the different elements in the power grid. In this technologically focused paper we study the optimal operational strategies of coupled DERs and storage within different scenarios. At the beginning we show the optimal sizes of different components, taking into consideration loads and investment costs. We introduce an approach to optimize the usage of the battery in which a controller tries to hold the battery near the optimal level and avoids unnecessary discharge operations. Furthermore, we explore the usage of feed-forward artificial neural networks to Abdalkarim Awad abdalkarim.awad@cs.fau.de Peter Bazan peter.bazan@cs.fau.de Reinhard German german@cs.fau.de 1 Computer Networks and Communication Systems, Department of Computer Science, University of Erlangen, Martensstr 3, 91058 Erlangen, Germany estimate the demand. Starting with simple setups (i.e., only PV and Battery) and going then to more complex setups (i.e., with μCH P), we have shown through comprehensive simulation studies that it is possible to enhance the profit when the optimized approach is applied.