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Operation and Planning Strategies for Virtual Power Plants under Uncertainty

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A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "F: Electrical Engineering".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (31 May 2022) | Viewed by 9699

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Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. Jose Ignacio Muñoz-Hernandez

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Guest Editor

Department of Applied Mechanics and Project Engineering, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 02071 Albacete, Spain
Interests: power systems operations and planning; integration of renewable energy sources; smart grids and virtual power plants; electricity markets; operations research; economics and smart contracts and project management

Prof. Dr. Luis Baringo

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Guest Editor

Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería Industrial, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Campus Universitario s/n, 13071 Ciudad Real, Spain
Interests: electric energy systems; robust optimization; stochastic programming; electricity markets; wind energy; power systems; operations research
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

For this Special Issue of Energies, we invite authors to submit novel research on the development of new methods for the optimal operation and planning strategies for virtual power plants (VPPs) within an uncertain environment, bringing together a variety of technologies that can enable the integration of a new form of distributed intermediation in electricity markets. Relevant topics include solutions with efficient and useful techniques and tools to provide VPPs to the electricity market by transacting with customers of generation, demand and storage assets deep down in the utility networks, bringing flexibility, and providing support to intermittent renewable generation sources.

We are specifically interested in the following areas:

VPP operation and/or planning;
Power generation uncertainty management;
Decision-making tools for VPPs under uncertainty;
Renewable energy systems integration;
Peer-to-peer (P2P) power trade;
Distributed renewable generation and smart grids;
Smart contracts for P2P;
Demand/production aggregation;
Decentralized operation mechanisms;
Electrical vehicle integration.

Prof. Dr. Jose Ignacio Muñoz-Hernandez
Prof. Dr. Luis Baringo
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

Virtual power plant
Operation and planning
Uncertainty
Smart grids
Peer-to-peer power trade
Smart contracts
Renewable energy
Electric vehicle
Vehicle to grid (V2G)

Published Papers (5 papers)

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Research

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20 pages, 5943 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Urban Wind: An Alternative for Sustainable Cities

by Isabel Cristina Gil-García, María Socorro García-Cascales and Angel Molina-García

Energies 2022, 15(13), 4759; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15134759 - 29 Jun 2022

Cited by 5 | Viewed by 2595

Abstract

The climate emergency has intensified the search for the generation of electricity from renewable energies in order to turn cities into sustainable cities. Small-scale wind power offers new opportunities for decentralized electricity production, avoiding dependence on the grid and transmission losses. Among viable locations within the urban environment, high-rise buildings are especially promising due to the elevated height and less turbulent wind conditions. They can also be integrated into the architecture of the building or as independent units in the urban environment. In this area, this work presents a methodology for determining the annual energy production of urban wind projects. The proposal is divided into four stages: location, wind and urban indicators, turbine selection and annual production estimation, and economic/environmental analysis. The evaluation of the solution is carried out for a Spanish case study. According to the results, more than 68,000 kWh/year can be generated with an investment recovery period of less than six years. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Operation and Planning Strategies for Virtual Power Plants under Uncertainty)

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16 pages, 2058 KiB

Open AccessFeature PaperArticle

Barriers behind the Retarded Shallow Geothermal Deployment in Specific Areas: A Comparative Case Study between Southern Spain and Germany

by Adela Ramos-Escudero and María del Socorro García-Cascales

Energies 2022, 15(13), 4596; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15134596 - 23 Jun 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1237

Abstract

Shallow Geothermal Energy (SGE) extracted by Ground Source Heat Pump (GSHP) is a proven clean and profitable technology. Although it is available almost everywhere, its market enjoys different maturity levels along with the other EU Members and even those within the same country. In the Murcia region, in Southern Spain, the presence of GSHP is almost nonexistent. Germany, in contrast, has an extensive tradition of exploiting its SGE resources and is an example of a mature GSHP market. In this work, the technical and non-technical barriers were assessed in both countries to identify the site-specific parameters preventing a better deployment of SGE in Southern Spain. In addition, a SWOT analysis was conducted to highlight the parameters positively and negatively influencing the geothermal resource extraction. Results showed that both study cases showed similar and good technical conditions, such as sufficient resource 80 W/m approx. or a similar impact on the environment mainly due to the use of electricity consumed. However, the regulation and legal framework greatly varied from one area to another. In conclusion, the main factors causing a poor deployment are the lack of specific regulation or regional administration support. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Operation and Planning Strategies for Virtual Power Plants under Uncertainty)

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27 pages, 5352 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Integration of Hydrogen and Synthetic Natural Gas within Legacy Power Generation Facilities

by German Dominguez-Gonzalez, Jose Ignacio Muñoz-Hernandez, Derek Bunn and Carlos Jesus Garcia-Checa

Energies 2022, 15(12), 4485; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15124485 - 20 Jun 2022

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2015

Abstract

Whilst various new technologies for power generation are continuously being evaluated, the owners of almost-new facilities, such as combined-cycle gas turbine (CCGT) plants, remain motivated to adapt these to new circumstances and avoid the balance-sheet financial impairments of underutilization. Not only are the owners reluctant to decommission the legacy CCGT assets, but system operators value the inertia and flexibilities they contribute to a system becoming predominated with renewable generation. This analysis therefore focuses on the reinvestment cases for adapting CCGT to hydrogen (H₂), synthetic natural gas (SNG) and/or retrofitted carbon capture and utilization systems (CCUS). Although H₂, either by itself or as part of SNG, has been evaluated attractively for longer-term electricity storage, the business case for how it can be part of a hybrid legacy CCGT system has not been analyzed in a market context. This work compares the power to synthetic natural gas to power (PSNGP) adaptation with the simpler and less expensive power to hydrogen to power (P2HP) adaptation. Both the P2HP and PSNGP configurations are effective in terms of decarbonizations. The best results of the feasibility analysis for a UK application with low CCGT load factors (around 31%) were obtained for 100% H₂ (P2HP) in the lower range of wholesale electricity prices (less than 178 GBP/MWh), but in the higher range of prices, it would be preferable to use the PSNGP configuration with a low proportion of SNG (25%). If the CCGT load factor increased to 55% (the medium scenario), the breakeven profitability point between P2HP and PSNGP decreased to a market price of 145 GBP/MWh. Alternatively, with the higher load factors (above 77%), satisfactory results were obtained for PSNGP using 50% SNG if with market prices above 185 GBP/MWh. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Operation and Planning Strategies for Virtual Power Plants under Uncertainty)

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17 pages, 9177 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Modeling of the Wind Potential in the Open Sea and Its Application to the Calculation of Energy

by Manuel I. Bahamonde García, José Macías Macías, César Rodríguez González, Salvador Pérez Litrán and María R. Sánchez Herrera

Energies 2022, 15(3), 1157; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15031157 - 04 Feb 2022

Viewed by 1231

Abstract

A reliable estimate of the wind potential in the marine atmospheric boundary layer (MABL) is of great importance to justify the energetic viability of new offshore wind farms. The purpose of the study is to provide an additional tool for the prediction of the energy that a wind turbine would produces in the open sea from the usual way of measurements at sea, that is, when they are carried out with measuring masts, where the meteorological data are obtained at levels much lower than those of a wind turbine hub. For this, the variation in the wind speed with the height in the MABL is determined, based on the Monin–Obukhov similarity theory, according to the boundary conditions of the air–sea interface, where the input data for the Validation of the results are extracted from the German FINO 3 research platform during the years 2016, 2017, and 2018. It is applied to the production of electrical energy from a 6.0 MW commercial wind turbine, with the hub at 100 m above the sea surface. As a more prominent result, the deviations from the proposed method do not exceed 2.5% in the energy calculation. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Operation and Planning Strategies for Virtual Power Plants under Uncertainty)

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Review

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13 pages, 921 KiB

Open AccessReview

Review of NZEB Criteria: Design of Life Containers in Operations Area

by Mario Garzón-Juan, Ana Nieto-Morote and Francisco Ruz-Vila

Energies 2022, 15(2), 467; https://doi.org/10.3390/en15020467 - 10 Jan 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 1566

Abstract

The Spanish Ministry of Defense is currently attempting to reduce the amount of energy that is consumed by its military bases and has therefore raised concerns about how to make their facilities more energy efficient. To fulfill this objective, the Spanish army has developed various studies and projects, as well as a technical prescription sheet that defines the thermal transmittance values of the materials that are to be used to construct the different elements of the containers that make up the temporary housing units at Spanish military camps. Both governments and private entities have developed initiatives that are aimed at improving the energy efficiency of buildings, which are classified into two groups: those aimed at the development of mandatory building codes and those that are based on voluntary certification programs. The use of passive strategies is one of the key actions that is being implemented to achieve the NZEB category, as its first requirement is to be a “very low energy consumption building”. This paper compares the energy efficiency requirements of the tents and containers that are used in military camps and the energy-efficient design requirements that are demanded by the energy efficiency standards for buildings in the civil sector. Through this comparison, we determine how energy efficient the current living spaces in military camps are in order to define strategies that can be implemented to improve the design requirements of these living spaces so to reduce the consumption and operation logistics and to improve both operability and safety in military camp facilities. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Operation and Planning Strategies for Virtual Power Plants under Uncertainty)

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