Optimization of a reliable combined cooling, heat and power microgrid system

In this paper a novel intelligent method is applied to the problem of sizing in a microgrid power system for Ganje area in the north-west Iran such that the electrical, heating and cooling demands of this residential area are met. The microgrid consists of fuel cells, wind turbine units, electrolyzers, a reformer, an anaerobic reactor, hydrogen and thermal storage tanks and also an absorption chiller. The heat and cooling requirements of the microgrid consist of water heating, space heating and apace cooling loads. The heat produced by fuel cells is used to supply the required heat and cooling of microgrid. In this study the authors used an absorption chiller to supply the required space cooling within the microgrid. When the heat produced by fuel cells is more than demand, surplus heat is stored within the thermal storage tank. On the other hand, when the produced heat by fuel cells together with the stored heat in a thermal storage cannot meet heating and cooling demand, waste and natural gas are employed to generate additional required heat and cooling energy for the system. The objective of the present study is to minimize the total cost of the system and simultaneously taking into account the reliability of the considered microgrid.