Effectiveness of use of the energy management system as a mean for the integration of distributed energy sources in low voltage network

In the paper energy management system is presented for application in low voltage microgrids operating in connection with the supplying network. The microgrid integrates renewable and controllable energy sources, loads and storage devices. The management system determines set-points for controllable sources and storages with the aim to optimize the microgrid operation by minimizing the costs of energy in the time horizon. In formulating the objective function constraints regarding the network capacity are taken into account, i.e. voltage limits in the network nodes and load carrying capacity limits of lines and the supplying transformer. Thus, the implementation of the proposed management system enables the integration of energy sources into existing networks without their re-designing. In the paper the authors have taken up an attempt to assess the effectiveness of the system. The case study is presented in which the microgrid operation with and without the management system are compared.