Energy Cost Optimization for Incorporating Energy Hubs into a Smart Microgrid with RESs, CHP, and EVs

The energy carrier infrastructure, including both electricity and natural gas sources, has evolved and begun functioning independently over recent years. Nevertheless, recent studies are pivoting toward the exploration of a unified architecture for energy systems that combines Multiple-Energy Carriers into a single network, hence moving away from treating these carriers separately. As an outcome, a new methodology has emerged, integrating electrical, chemical, and heating carriers and centered around the concept of Energy Hubs (EHs). EHs are complex systems that handle the input and output of different energy types, including their conversion and storage. Furthermore, EHs include Combined Heat and Power (CHP) units, which offer greater efficiency and are more environmentally benign than traditional thermal units. Additionally, CHP units provide greater flexibility in the use of natural gas and electricity, thereby offering significant advantages over traditional methods of energy supply. This article introduces a new approach for exploring the steady-state model of EHs and addresses all related optimization issues. These issues encompass the optimal dispatch across multiple carriers, the optimal hub interconnection, and the ideal hub configuration within an energy system. Consequently, this article targets the reduction in the overall system energy costs, while maintaining compliance with all the necessary system constraints. The method is applied in an existing Smart Microgrid (SM) of a typical Greek 17-bus low-voltage distribution network into which EHs are introduced along with Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) and Electric Vehicles (EVs). The SM experiments focus on the optimization of the operational cost using different operational scenarios with distributed generation (DG) and CHP units as well as EVs. A sensitivity analysis is also performed under variations in electricity costs to identify the optimal scenario for handling increased demand.