Optimal Economic Power Dispatch in the Presence of Intermittent Renewable Energy Sources

This paper describes a method for solving the economic power dispatch problem in the presence of renewable energy sources. The method proposed in this paper uses linear programming because linear programming based formulations tend to be flexible, reliable, and faster than their nonlinear counterparts. A linearized network model in the form of DC power flow model is utilized in this paper. Thermal limits of transmission lines and real power constraints have both been considered in the proposed model. In addition, piecewise linear models for generating units cost curves are developed during the realization of the presented work. A micro-power optimization model based on Homer software is used to account for the uncertainty in the output power of the intermittent renewable energy sources. The proposed linear programming based method is demonstrated on the standard IEEE 30 bus system. Test results are reported, discussed, and thoroughly analyzed.