Carbon emission-aware coordinated dispatch of multi-regional microgrids with data centers

The rapid increase in the number and scale of data centers has exhibited great potential for regulating computational workloads, which can serve as demand response resources to balance energy consumption while reducing carbon emissions. This paper proposes a carbon emission-aware coordinated dispatch scheme for multi-regional microgrids with data centers. First, based on the day-ahead invitation demand response, the spatiotemporal adjustable characteristics of the workloads are modeled in detail. Then, a data center tenant model is established, and the tenants’ willingness is quantified from comfort and economy. In addition, low-carbon measures and carbon market mechanisms are combined to create a ladder-type carbon trading cost based on the dynamic carbon emission factor. It is shown in the case study that the proposed scheme effectively stimulates demand response programs while reducing operating costs and carbon emissions.