Optimal Power Equipment Sizing and Management for Cooperative Buildings in Microgrids

We present a novel model for the optimal design and power management of a group of buildings with diverse load patterns that are able to exchange energy through a common dc bus. The determination of the optimal sizes of the photovoltaic arrays, energy storage systems and inverters, and the optimal scheduling of power exchanges are achieved through the formulation of a mixed integer linear programming problem. Furthermore, the Nash bargaining method is used in order to fairly distribute the cooperation profits among the participants. The proposed approach achieves the reduction of the microgrid's (MG's) cost and carbon emissions compared to noncooperative approaches, and promotes the enhancement of the MG's energy sufficiency by allowing energy exchanges among buildings with energy surplus and buildings with energy deficit. Our model also takes into account the case where additional buildings join the MG after the initial coalition establishment.