Sizing and Siting of Distributed Generators and Energy Storage in a Microgrid Considering Plug-in Electric Vehicles

This paper presents a sizing and siting model for distributed generators (DGs) and energy storage systems (ESS) towards the design of a cost-efficient and reliable microgrid considering electric vehicles (EVs). The proposed model exploits the coordinated energy dispatching of DGs, ESS, and EVs, aiming at minimizing the overall planning and operating cost as well as meeting power supply reliability requirements. This issue is addressed in a two-stage framework. The upper stage determines the sizes and sites of candidate DGs and ESS, and the lower stage optimizes the microgrid’s economic power dispatch. Since the two-stage model contains both planning and operational variables, a two-stage iterative heuristic algorithm is designed. The effectiveness of the proposed approach is validated by case studies, and corresponding results demonstrate that the planning approach that considers coordinated management of an EV fleet and economic power dispatch of microgrid achieves better economics. In addition, the suggested approach can also better match distributed generation and power demands as well as securing microgrid power supply.