Optimization of distributed energy systems taking into account energy saving and emission reduction

The emergence and development of distributed resources (DR) provide a significant technological option for energy-saving and emission-reducing. From the viewpoint of power distribution utility operator, this paper firstly provides a comprehensive analysis of DR to assess the level of environmental benefits, and points out the potential value of DR for reducing air pollution and increasing energy efficiency. Subsequently, a general energy supply optimization model with a wide range of DR, which takes into account environmental impacts (emissions penalties) as external costs to the total costs, is proposed. Considering that the proposed model is a complex combinatorial optimization problem, and that the difficulty is further exacerbated by the uncertainty of power output of intermittent energy resources, heuristic algorithm, which is applied in traditional generation expansion planning, is adopted. Finally, a distribution network is employed to illustrate the proposed model and algorithm, with the simulation results discussed.