Real time aggregation control of P2H loads in a virtual power plant based on a multi-period Stackelberg game

Abstract

Power to Heat (P2H) technology is seen as an effective solution for integrating stochastic wind power. Particularly in real-time electricity markets, high-precision wind power forecasts enable the load to better accommodate its fluctuations. Nonetheless, the shorter time scales of real-time trading pose challenges for efficiently aggregating a large, heterogeneous, and dispersed loads and fully harnessing the thermal storage capabilities of loads to follow wind power fluctuations across multiple periods. Against this backdrop, this paper proposes an aggregation control approach for P2H loads with considering multi-period Stackelberg game strategy within the framework of a load-oriented virtual power plant (VPP). For multi-period real-time trading, a Stackelberg game model based on a dynamic price ceiling is established with considering dynamic supply-demand balance between wind power and P2H loads; To enhance load aggregation effectiveness, a dynamically updated temperature-power aggregation model is developed by employing model order reduction, variables continuousization, and linear superposition on second-order equivalent thermodynamic model; To improve load decomposition efficiency, a hierarchical and multi-step control strategy encompassing the continuousization of discrete variables is utilized to simplify the problem. Finally, a simulation example is presented using actual data from a power grid in northern China to validate the effectiveness of the proposed method.