Modelling and hierarchical hybrid optimal control of prosumers for improved integration of renewable energy sources into the grid

The potential for using demand response to provide ancillary services is widely recognized. The present paper deals with the optimal aggregation of switched loads in the context of uncertain renewable energy generators. The objective is to provide a fast and accurate response from loads, while respecting their constraints, by taking into account their switched nature in the optimization problem employed to formulate the control objectives. Prosumers are aggregated in a scalable hierarchical control structure to distribute the computation and obtain tractable optimization problems. The optimal control problem is formulated as a mixed integer linear program computed at regular time intervals in a receding horizon control scheme. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the approach.