Demand Response Participation in Renewable Energy Hubs

Abstract

In traditional energy systems, supply side management was the main solution for responding to demand changes. However, the use of reserve capacity and large scale thermal systems to meet the power deficit in critical hours is not a logical solution. Another solution is to optimize consumption and adapt the pattern of consumption with existing resources, which is the basis of demand side management (DSM) and in particular demand response (DR) programs. DR includes approaches from DSM that are used to change customer consumption pattern due to price changes in the market or incentive payments. In this chapter research related to DSM programs in residential, commercial, agriculture, and industrial energy hubs is reviewed and discussed. Also a comprehensive operational optimization model for energy hub management in the presence of DR programs and renewable energy sources is proposed. In the proposed model, the DR program is formulated for a smart energy hub, which includes combined heat and power (CHP), boiler, wind turbine, electrical storage and the electricity and gas networks as energy resources. Simulation results show that in addition to load shifting, the customers in the smart energy hub can participate in DR program by switching between different energy carriers (e.g., from the electricity to the natural gas) during the peak hours.