Coordinated scheduling of energy resources for distributed DHCs in an integrated energy grid

As more and more distributed renewable energy resources connected to electric power grids, the conventional power system evolves into an integrated energy grid (lEG) in order to satisfy various types of energy demands. This paper proposes a model of the coordinated scheduling of energy resources (CSoERs) for distributed district heating and cooling systems (DHCs) in an lEG. The model takes into consideration both the dispatchable grid-connected generators and distributed renewable energy resources, such as wind energy, solar energy and natural gas. The objective is to minimize the operation costs in the lEG in order to satisfy not only the electrical loads but also the heating loads and cooling loads. Furthermore, an energy storage system for heating loads and cooling loads is also developed in the DHCs to improve the operation reliability in the distributed DHCs. Detailed simulation studies are carried out to verify the effectiveness of the CSoERs under two different operation scenarios: grid-connected scenario and stand-alone scenario. Simulation results demonstrate that the performance of the CSoERs contributes to significant energy saving and reliability operation in both grid-connected scenario and standalone scenario in the lEG.