An amalgamated load shifting cum curtailing policy with smart charging of PHEV for economic operation of microgrid system

The most popular concept, demand-side management (DSM) aims to economize the operation and performance of a distribution model. The major policies of the DSM are Load-altering and load-curtailing policies, and both work to lower the system's peak demand. The load altering or shifting employs an optimization-enabled strategy that reallocates loads of elastic types to periods of lower pricing, therefore mitigating peaks by filling in the troughs. The latter provides incentives to customers for participating and curtailing the load during peak hours. This research aims to implement integrated load shifting and curtailment algorithms inside a microgrid with a low voltage category system to distribute energy resources that are optimally scheduled, hence minimizing overall operating costs. To amplify the complexity of the work, the subject MG system also facilitates charging of vehicles of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV) types, and hence, a smart charging strategy that uses real-time tariff (RTT) established by MG system aggregators is suggested for PHEV charging coordination to reduce the overall daily charging cost. This strategy utilizes technologies that connect vehicles to the grid and vice versa. The differential evolution (DE) algorithm was used as an optimization tool for the study. Numerical results validate that the combined load shifting cum curtailing policy proved to be more economical and efficient in reducing the TOC of the system from 889 to 716¥ and 872 to 702¥ for PHEV type I and II respectively compared to the scenarios when those policies were used individually. Additionally, the MG total operating cost (TOC) was further reduced when smart charging of PHEV was considered by changing its arrival-departure time to those hours of the day when load demand and RTT are lesser.