Bidding strategy for a virtual power plant for trading energy in the wholesale electricity market

Virtual power plants (VPPs) are an effective way to increase renewable integration. In this PhD research, the concept design and the detailed costs and benefits of implementing a realistic VPP in Western Australia (WA), comprising 67 dwellings, are developed. The VPP is designed to integrate and coordinate an 810kW rooftop solar PV farm, 350kW/700kWh vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFB), heat pump hot water systems (HWSs), and smart appliances through demand management mechanisms. This research develops a robust bidding strategy for the VPP to participate in both load following ancillary service (LFAS) and energy market in the wholesale electricity market in WA considering the uncertainties associated with PV generation and electricity market prices. Using this strategy, the payback period can be improved by 3 years (to a payback period of 6 years) and the internal rate of return (IRR) by 7.5% (to an IRR of 18%) by participating in both markets. The daily average error of the proposed robust method is 2.7% over one year when compared with a robust mathematical method. The computational effort is 0.66 sec for 365 runs for the proposed method compared to 947.10 sec for the robust mathematical method. To engage customers in the demand management schemes by the VPP owner, the gamified approach is adopted to make the exercise enjoyable while not compromising their comfort levels. Seven gamified applications are examined using a developed methodology based on Kim’s model and Fogg’s model, and the most suitable one is determined. The simulation results show that gamification can improve the payback period by 1 to 2 months for the VPP owner. Furthermore, an efficient and fog-based monitoring and control platform is proposed for the VPP to be flexible, scalable, secure, and cost-effective to realise the full capabilities and profitability of the VPP

Utilization of Batteries in The Momentary Load Variations of a Cruise Ship

The shipping and cruising industry is considered one of the most important and cheapest transportation, however, it is considered responsible for almost 2.89% of global emissions in 2018. Due to the new regulations provided by IMO, the need to reduce fuel consumption and emissions from the shipping industry becomes imperative. Several technologies have been applied to achieve those challenges, but the main focus of this thesis will be on the utilization of batteries as one of the most promising energy storage technologies, to handle the load variation rather than the operation of the auxiliary diesel engines at an economical loading range. In cruise ship applications, the auxiliary diesel engines are utilized to supply the power required for the auxiliary loads and thruster motors, usually, thruster motors operate close to harbors. So, to ensure power availability, the auxiliary diesel engines usually run at low loading levels. The optimum operating point for the diesel engines is at 80% of loading, if that percentage decreases, both fuel consumption, and NOx emissions increased exponentially, moreover, the engine’s lifetime will be reduced and more maintenance will be required. By utilizing batteries, it will be capable of providing the required power for the operation of thruster motors or during peak loading periods rather than the operation of all available auxiliary diesel engines at low loading levels. The presented study focused on four different scenarios with different battery-pack sizes, showing the space required for each scenario and the operating profile of each diesel engine indicating the fuel consumption with and without the presence of batteries. The first scenario utilized a 940-kWh battery pack, which increased the efficiency of the running engines close to the optimum operating level. The last scenario utilized a 3240-kWh battery pack, which enables the shutdown of the auxiliary engines during the operation of thruster motors or peak loading. By using the large battery model scenario, half the number of diesel engines will not be required in the future new builds of a cruise ship. This will not only improve the fuel consumption efficiency and reduce emissions, moreover, the maintenance and overall build cost will also be reduced. Technical and economic analysis is presented showing the payback period of the batteries with different fuel and battery price options. The payback period is highly affected by the saving associated with fuel costs and the price of batteries

Microgrid, Its Control and Stability: The State of The Art

Some of the challenges facing the power industries globally include power quality and stability, diminishing fossil fuel, climate change amongst others. The use of distributed generators however is growing at a steady pace to address these challenges. When interconnected and integrated with storage devices and controllable load, these generators operate together in a grid, which has incidental stability and control issues. The focus of this paper, therefore, is on the review and discussion of the different control approaches and the hierarchical control on a microgrid, the current practice in the literature concerning stability and the control techniques deployed for microgrid control; the weakness and strength of the different control strategies were discussed in this work and some of the areas that require further research are highlighted