Virtual energy storage capacity procurement under multiple operational requirements

Virtual Energy storage (VES) has great potential in satisfying multiple operational requirements of grid-connected microgrids with renewable energy resources. In the day-ahead stage, the microgrid operator must determine the optimal capacity procurement of VES (e.g., through demand response) for smart operation. For this purpose, this paper proposes a VES capacity procurement optimization framework under multiple operational requirements. Firstly, multiple operational requirements, including economic, environmental and reliability requirements, and corresponding concerned system characteristics are analyzed. Secondly, based on the concerned features of the multiple operational requirements, a power amplitude scenario set, a power fluctuation scenario set and an extreme scenario set are constructed to characterize the uncertain environment. Thirdly, a VES capacity procurement optimization model is developed on the above scenario sets, which takes the performance under extreme scenarios into account to balance the model robustness and optimality. Finally, the impacts of requirements parameters and VES parameters are evaluated through parameter sensitivity analysis. The simulation results demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.