Generation Cost Optimization of an Islanded Microgrid System with Distributed Generators and Renewable Energy Sources

Abstract

The centralized generation sources from the fossil fuels have been widely used in the traditional power system. The technological improvements, economical efficiency issues, and environmental conservation issues have introduced a concept of a microgrid system. The generation sources of a microgrid system mainly include distributed generators and renewable energy sources. This paper proposes a strategy of the generation cost optimization of sources in a microgrid system. The diesel generators, natural gas generators, combined heat and power (CHP) plants, solar photovoltaic (PV) plants, and wind turbine generators are the generation sources considered in this paper. The improved artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is proposed to solve this generation cost optimization. The numerical results of the generation cost optimization by using the improved ABC algorithm are compared with those by using the ABC and particle swarm optimization (PSO) algorithm. The comparison is to confirm the effectiveness of the proposal in the application of the generation cost optimization of the microgrid system with distributed generators and renewable energy sources.