Renewable Energy Matching to Consumer Entities Based on a Maximum Flow Model

Abstract

This paper designs a renewable energy assignment scheme based on maximum flow modeling for a microgrid containing distributed energy sources and consumption entities. Between the source and the sink node of a directed graph, mainly solar generators and consumption entities are interconnected via weighted links. Weights from the source to generators are decided by the amount of solar power production while weights from consumption entities to the sink by the amount of their energy demands. In addition, weights from generators to consumers correspond to the transmission line capacity connecting two objects, each from both parties. An additional node is defined to present the energy flow contracted with the main grid and its weight can be adjusted according to the additional energy purchase. The performance measurement result obtained from a prototype implementation shows that the renewable energy is stably distributed over multiple consumers until the energy generation reaches the maximum link capacity.