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Decomposing Loosely Coupled Mixed-Integer Programs for Optimal Microgrid Design

Author

Listed:
  • Alexander J. Zolan

    (Thermal Energy Systems, National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colorado 80401)

  • Michael S. Scioletti

    (Department of Mathematical Sciences, United States Military Academy, West Point, New York 10996)

  • David P. Morton

    (Department of Industrial Engineering and Management Sciences, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208)

  • Alexandra M. Newman

    (Department of Mechanical Engineering, Colorado School of Mines, Golden, Colorado 80401)

Abstract

Microgrids are frequently employed in remote regions, in part because access to a larger electric grid is impossible, difficult, or compromises reliability and independence. Although small microgrids often employ spot generation, in which a diesel generator is attached directly to a load, microgrids that combine these individual loads and augment generators with photovoltaic cells and batteries as a distributed energy system are emerging as a safer, less costly alternative. We present a model that seeks the minimum-cost microgrid design and ideal dispatched power to support a small remote site for one year with hourly fidelity under a detailed battery model; this mixed-integer nonlinear program (MINLP) is intractable with commercial solvers but loosely coupled with respect to time. A mixed-integer linear program (MIP) approximates the model, and a partitioning scheme linearizes the bilinear terms. We introduce a novel policy for loosely coupled MIPs in which the system reverts to equivalent conditions at regular time intervals; this separates the problem into subproblems that we solve in parallel. We obtain solutions within 5% of optimality in at most six minutes across 14 MIP instances from the literature and solutions within 5% of optimality to the MINLP instances within 20 minutes.

Suggested Citation

  • Alexander J. Zolan & Michael S. Scioletti & David P. Morton & Alexandra M. Newman, 2021. "Decomposing Loosely Coupled Mixed-Integer Programs for Optimal Microgrid Design," INFORMS Journal on Computing, INFORMS, vol. 33(4), pages 1300-1319, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:inm:orijoc:v:33:y:2021:i:4:p:1300-1319
    DOI: 10.1287/ijoc.2020.0955
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    References listed on IDEAS

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