Economic dispatch in microgrids using compromise solution method

In this paper, we evaluate a multi-objective-moving-horizon-optimization (MO-MHO) approach as an instrument for improvement of economic dispatch in microgrids. In particular, we investigate the effect of adaptation of the multi-objective optimization strategy used in the moving horizon framework on the end result of the economic dispatch. Power dispatch in microgrids is inherently a high-dimensional problem often cast as a mixed-integer stochastic program with conflicting objectives. Implied is the fact that exhaustive exploration of the whole Pareto front in a related multi-objective approach is not a computationally tractable decision tool. It is thus argued that it is preferable to represent the problem as a bi-objective optimization problem with the two costs grouping the least conflicting components. The solution method for the optimization problem over a window “looking into the future” can then be selected or adjusted in real time by employing an independent set of assessment functions evaluated along the trajectories of optimal multi-objective solutions already implemented over a window in the past. The proposed strategy is applied to a case study of a remote microgrid. Its performance is evaluated based on simulation results that suggest that choosing the compromise solution of the MO-MHO problem may be superior to the usual scalarization methods.