Dynamic Structural Sizing of Residential Energy Hubs

Structural sizing can be performed to determine the optimal size of the components incorporated in a multi-carrier energy system, modeled as an energy hub. This paper proposes a dynamic structural sizing for residential energy hubs, consisting of combined heat and power unit, gas boiler, photovoltaic (PV) system, and electrical and heat storages. The horizon time of planning is divided into sub-horizons, and the optimal decisions for installing the components are made for each sub-horizon. The objective is to minimize customer costs, including the investment costs of energy hub components and the operation cost of an energy hub during the planning horizon time. Demand side management is also modeled in the proposed problem, and Monte Carlo simulation method is employed to model the uncertainty of PV system generation. Finally, several cases are investigated to demonstrate the validity and importance of the proposed probabilistic dynamic planning method.