Energy Transactions of Multiple Virtual Power Plants Based on Fast-ADMM Algorithm

The zero-carbon concept for combating climate change encourages the development of a clean power system. However, the intermittent and volatile nature of renewable energies causes issues with power system flexibility. Virtual power plants (VPPs) aggregate distributed energy resources (DERs) on the demand side as a prosumer for cost-effective renewable energies consumption via flexible transactions. When compared to trading directly with the retailers, VPPs can improve their efficiency through peer-to-peer (P2P) trading, and thus promoting the development of distributed renewable energies. This paper proposes a P2P transaction mechanism between multiple VPPs. First of all, a VPP model is created that includes air-conditioning loads, electric vehicles, gas turbines, and non-adjustable loads. Second, a model for day-ahead optimization of multi-VPPs transactions is established. A distributed trading strategy based on fast-alternating direction multiplier method (fast ADMM) is then proposed. The mixed-integer nonlinear model is solved using commercial software, and the simulation case study demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method. Finally, the conclusion section analyzes the limitations of this work and provides an outlook on future research directions.