Grid-Connected Electric-Power Control Algorithm for Promoting the Introduction of Renewable Energy

The importance of renewable energy generation is increasing with the increasing demand for energy sources that can serve as alternatives to the current major energy sources. Thus, various types of renewable energy generation, such as photovoltaics, are being introduced in many places, resulting in a sudden increase in the number of requests for connecting to the grids of an electric power company. However, there is a problem in that it is extremely difficult to connect a large number of photovoltaic power generators, etc., which depend on the weather and are therefore unstable, to an electric power company. Although it is possible to considerably increase the amount of electrical energy that may be introduced into the grids if the amount of electrical energy that is sold to the grids is stable, if the amount of electrical energy sold is unstable, the electric power company has to separately ensure a surplus amount of generated power by thermal power generation in order to ensure the stability of power supply. Accordingly, the introduction of renewable energy will be hindered or CO₂ emissions will increase. This paper employs the approach of exercising control so that the amount of electrical energy that is sold to a grid will be stable. Specifically, this paper proposes an electric-power control method based on an online optimization algorithm for stabilizing the amount of electrical energy sold to a grid by utilizing the battery and by mutually supplying electric power among clusters in a smart community including multiple clusters each corresponding to a residential area equipped with renewable energy generation facilities and a battery.