Optimal Energy Management of VPP-Based Energy Storage Considering Renewable Energy Integration and EV Charging

The unpredictable nature of Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) and the fluctuating charging demand of Electric Vehicles (EVs) create challenges for power grid management when integrated into the main power grid separately. A Virtual Power Plant (VPP) is proposed to aggregate solar Photovoltaic (PV) plants, wind farms, and EV Charging Stations (EVCSs) with a Battery Energy Storage System (BESS). A novel optimization framework is proposed to manage these components effectively. In addition, the framework aims to optimize Energy Management (EM) by considering key features such as three scenarios based on the configuration of RESs, solar PVs, Wind Turbines (WTs), or both of them to be integrated with EVCSs and BESS into the system, as well as two cases depending on battery degradation calculation or not. Then, each of those scenarios, considering the previous two cases, is tested on the IEEE 24 bus reliability test system. While the optimization process employs the MATPOWER tool and the particle swarm optimization algorithm to reduce generation costs and assess battery degradation, the simulation results demonstrate that the combined scenario of solar PVs and WTs, integrated into the power system with BESS cycle aging consideration, has the lowest total cost and longest cycles. The findings underscore the potential of VPP to promote sustainable energy utilization and lower operating expenses.