Integrated Planning of Renewable-Dominated Energy Systems and Demand Side Resources

In the present paper, the effect of an integrated planning of renewable energy resources, electrical and thermal storage, electric vehicles charger strategy, and various side demand response programs on electrical and thermal load supplying cost of a residential area was investigated. In this regard, a mathematical model was presented for an optimal integrated planning of renewable energy resources, heating equipment of buildings, thermal and electrical storages, electrical vehicles with respect to demand side management. The proposed model for optimal planning has been formulated as a mixed integer linear programing model. In this model, operational constraints of distribution network were considered. In order to evaluate the performance of the proposed model, its efficiency on electrical and thermal resources of a residential area with certain number of buildings was analyzed. The simulation obtained results revealed that using thermal and electrical storages and side demand response programs as well as the presence of a high number of electric vehicles can be followed by many merits when it is controlled by an energy management system. The outmost advantage is power absorption in low-load hours and releasing it in peak hours. This advantage causes decreasing load peak for electricity network and subsequently, decreasing the cost of supplying a residential area’s electricity. It is useful for both residents and operator. As found, it can be generally stated that an optimal and integrated planning of energy resources with respect to side demand management significantly decrease energy supply costs. According to simulation results, an integrated planning of all energy resources of a residential area can decrease consumption power in peak hours, energy supply cost as well as the need of buying it from a distribution network. This is in favor of both consumers and distributor company.