Energy and operational management of virtual power plant using imperialist competitive algorithm

This paper presents an efficient algorithm based on imperialist competitive algorithm for optimal energy management of a Virtual Power Plant (VPP) including different distributed generation units and energy storage devices. A collection of Distributed Energy Resources, energy storage devices, and controllable loads which are aggregated and then are managed by an Energy Management System and can operate as a single power plant is called VPP. The proposed approach employs imperialist competitive algorithm to minimize the total operating cost of the VPP, considering energy loss cost in a 24-hour time interval through 3 different scenarios while satisfying various operating constraints. This method has the benefit of escaping from the local optima while converging fast. In order to see the effectiveness and satisfying performance of the proposed algorithm, a case study including Renewable Energy Resources (RESs), storage battery, and controllable loads is studied as test system.