Addressing Uncertainties in the Design and Operation of Residential Distributed Energy Resources: Case Study of a Micro-chp System

Distributed Energy Resources (DER) comprises three main concepts: distributed generation of electricity and heat, energy storage and responsive loads. Residential DER technologies are sub-systems that utilize varying types of resources to generate, store and manage electrical and/or thermal energy at the site where it is needed (households). At present, several new and hybrid generation technologies are being developed or advancing commercialization stage, e.g. Stirling and fuel cell Micro Combined Heat and Power technology (Micro-CHP). Furthermore, novel ICT systems facilitate a shift to smart power systems and active distribution network management. Also, regulatory and market changes pertaining to the utility industries have brought in different dimensions and a myriad of uncertainties to the design and operation of DER. In this paper, the various forms of uncertainties (technical, economic and institutional/regulatory) that could besiege domestic DER system design and their application in the electricity system have been identified and classified. The focus thereby is on residential, Micro-CHP systems. As a step forward, we have proposed flexibility steps to handle these uncertainties at both the design, planning and operational phases of these DERs.