Optimal planning of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Power Plants at distribution networks considering Combined Heat, Power and Hydrogen production

Abstract

In this paper, a stochastic model is used for optimal planning of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cell Power Plants (MCFCPPs) in distribution network for producing Combined Heat, Power, and Hydrogen (CHPH). Total production costs of electrical energy, thermal energy, and hydrogen, emissions of MCFCPPs and network, and voltage deviation are considered in the objective function. In this paper, location and operation of MCFCPPs are taken into consideration while their investment cost is not taken into account. In this model, the uncertainties in forecasting the electrical and thermal loads, the pressures of hydrogen, oxygen, and carbon dioxide, and the indeterminacy of the nominal temperature of MCFCPP are considered using 2m + 1 Point Estimate Method (2m + 1 PEM). The problem of optimal planning of MCFCPPs as CHPH is of mixed integer nonlinear nature. So, a Self Adaptive Learning Bat-inspired Algorithm (SALBA) is employed for solving this problem. The problem is solved as a multi-objective one to achieve the best Pareto optimal set. A set of non-dominated solutions are saved in a repository and the proposed method is evaluated on a 69-bus distribution system.