A sustainable framework for long-term planning of the smart energy hub in the presence of renewable energy sources, energy storage systems and demand response program

Energy hub systems are known as the most important local energy systems and simultaneously meet the needs of their customers for different energies. Optimal design of energy hub systems has become a very important issue, as these systems have many customers. So, this paper presents a sustainable framework for the energy hub longterm planning in the presence of renewable energy sources (RESs). The hub is capable of supplying electrical, cooling and heating loads and is also equipped with three storage systems, electrical, thermal and cooling storage units. The uncertainties of different loads as well as photovoltaic (PV) panel output power are considered and the planning problem is dynamically modeled for a 15-year horizon. In addition, a Price-Based Demand Response (PBDR) program is included in the proposed model so that hub consumers can participate in it, leading to a modification of the demand curve and a reduction in operating cost. The planning and operation problem is modeled as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem and solved by the CPLEX solver in GAMS software. The effects of PBDR program, PV panels, uncertainties and energy storage systems on the sizing of equipment and operating costs have been studied in detail. The results show that the use of PBDR program reduces the installed capacity of the electrical storage system (EES) and thus leads to a reduction of about 5% of investment costs. In addition, the results show that the absence of PV panels in the model increases the operation costs by about 9%.

Automated summary

This paper presents a sustainable framework for the long-term planning of energy hub systems in the presence of renewable energy sources, including the needs of electrical, cooling, and heating loads, as well as the use of storage systems. The study shows that the use of Price-Based Demand Response program can reduce investment costs, while the absence of PV panels increases operating costs.