Estimating the value of demand-side management in low-cost, solar micro-grids
Name
Reja article.pdf
Size
4.15 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Mehra, Varun
Amatya, Reja
Ram, Rajeev J
Date Issued
August 2018
Journal
Energy
Publisher
Elsevier
Citation
Mehra, Varun, et al. “Estimating the Value of Demand-Side Management in Low-Cost, Solar Micro-Grids.” Energy, vol. 163, Nov. 2018, pp. 74–87.
Version
Final published version
Abstract
Demand-side management has the potential to reduce the cost of solar based community micro-grids and solar home systems for electricity access. This paper presents a methodology for optimal least-cost sizing of generation assets while meeting explicit reliability constraints in micro-grids that are capable of active demand management. The battery management model considers kinetic constraints on battery operation and represents dispatch in the field to regulate the depth of discharge. The model allows consideration of the trade-off between depth of discharge, cycle life, and calendar lifetime in lead-acid batteries. Separate reliability targets for disaggregated, residential load profiles at hourly timesteps are considered to evaluate the performance and cost reduction potential of demand-side management capabilities — with economic results and sensitivity analyses around key input assumptions subsequently presented. We find that demand-side management can reduce the number and cost of requisite solar panels and batteries with the integration of real-time management and controls – a key result for justifying next generation micro-grids for electricity access. Keywords: Micro-grids, Electricity access, Demand-side management, Reliability, Asset selection, Off-grid, Techno-economic model, Cost
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science
MIT Energy Initiative
Terms of Use
Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.energy.2018.07.204
