Storage-integrated virtual power plants for resiliency enhancement of smart distribution systems

With emergence of Flexible Renewable Virtual Power Plants (FRVPPs) as the aggregator of renewable energy systems and flexibility resources such as demand response programs and electric vehicles (EVs) in the Smart Distribution Network (SDN), FRVPPs are expected to have significant capability resiliency enhancement against natural disasters. This paper focuses on the resilient operation of SDN influenced by FRVPPs for flood and earthquake conditions and minimizes the total cost of the SDN against natural disasters. The constraints of the problem include AC optimal power flow equations, resiliency constraints and FRVPP constraints. The uncertainties of load, energy prices, renewable power generation, EVs demand, accessibility of SDN devices and FRVPP components are modeled using a hybrid stochastic-robust strategy. A hybrid metaheuristic optimization algorithm, based on combination of krill herd optimization and sine-cosine algorithm, has been used to solve the proposed optimization model. The achieved results on the IEEE 69-bus SDN approve the significant capability of FRVPP's in improving the resiliency of the SDN against flood and earthquake. Based on the simulation results, the mentioned hybrid algorithm is capable of extracting the optimal point in lower computing time compared to non-hybrid algorithms. Its standard deviation in the final response is very low, around 0.93 %, which means that the above-mentioned solver extracts an almost unique solution. In addition, the proposed design with energy management of FRVPPs has been able to improve resilience by about 95 % compared to power flow studies. This number is about 33 % and 42 % to improve the state of energy loss and voltage profile, respectively. Of course, these characteristics obtained for FRVPP are the result of the optimal performance of mobile energy storage (EVs) along with the demand response program.