A study on electricity export capability of the μCHP system with spot price

When a number of muCHP systems are aggregated as a virtual power plant (VPP), they will be able to participate in the electricity wholesale market with no discrimination compared to conventional large power plants. Hence, this paper investigates the electricity export capability of the muCHP system when the electricity buyback price is given at a value equalizing the dynamic spot price. A muCHP system is modeled with optimized generation, and the marginal price of electricity export for such system is explained. A sensitivity analysis of several key factors, e.g. fuel price, heat to power ratio of the muCHP unit, which influence the export capability of muCHP system, is firstly carried out in the intraday case study, followed by the annual case study which explores the annual system performance. The results show that the electricity export capability of a muCHP system is closely related to its technical parameters, the associated energy price during the trade, as well as the demand profile. Furthermore, the muCHP system running under fluctuating spot price is likely to gain more profit than that running under a fixed electricity export price.