Bi-level optimization design strategy for compressed air energy storage of a combined cooling, heating, and power system

Abstract

Abstract Multi-energy flow coupling, along with system design and operation mismatching, is an essential issue that restricts the development of a combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) system. To achieve a comprehensive cascade utilization of energy, a new CCHP system based on an internal combustion engine and compressed air energy storage (CAES) is proposed in this study. This system takes advantage of its multi-interface CAES, which not only enhances the correlation between thermoelectric systems but also improves the flexibility of multi-energy joint scheduling of CCHP systems. Considering the coupling relation between the equipment capacity and the operation mode, a bi-level optimization method is proposed for this system. The upper level optimizes the active equipment capacity of the system to reduce economic costs and increase the energy-saving. The lower level regards the daily energy consumption cost and primary energy saving ratio as the target to optimize the system operation mode and the equipment output planning. By applying the bi-level optimization method with direct joint optimization, the overall optimization and matching of the system capacity configuration and the working mode are realized. In addition, the priority relationship between the upper and lower levels of the optimization objectives is considered. Finally, a case study is provided to verify the effectiveness of the bi-level optimization method.