Optimal management of energy hubs and smart energy hubs – A review

Abstract

The increase of environmental concerns, scarcity of fossil fuel resources, uncontrolled growth of demand, along with the development of efficient multi-generation systems have made the restructuring of current energy systems inevitable. Future energy systems will be in the form of sustainable multi-energy systems. The optimal operation of such systems requires an integrated energy management system for optimal planning, control and management. Energy hub is a new and promising concept for optimal management of systems with multiple energy carriers. Energy hub has a large potential for realization of energy system models and moving towards sustainable multi-energy systems. This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the concepts and different applications of energy hubs in various energy consumption sectors including residential, commercial, industrial, agricultural, and the integration of these systems. The potential role of energy hub as an integrated energy management system to solve the main challenges in these consumption sectors is evaluated. This study focuses on the benefits earned by integration of the options such as demand side management, distributed energy resources, renewable energy resources, multi-generation systems, storage systems as well as using the smart technologies by introducing the concept of smart energy hubs.