Operational Planning of Energy for Non-Interconnected Zones: A Simulation-Optimization Approach and a Case Study to Tackle Energy Poverty in Colombia

Maria Acuna, Carlos Silva, Andrés Tocaruncho, Diana Vargas, Diego Patiño, David Barrera and Johan Peña
Additional contact information
Maria Acuna: Industrial Engineering Department, School of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota 110231, Colombia
Carlos Silva: Industrial Engineering Department, School of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota 110231, Colombia
Andrés Tocaruncho: Industrial Engineering Department, School of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota 110231, Colombia
Diana Vargas: Industrial Engineering Department, School of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota 110231, Colombia
Diego Patiño: Electronics Department, School of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota 110231, Colombia
David Barrera: Industrial Engineering Department, School of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota 110231, Colombia
Johan Peña: Electronics Department, School of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogota 110231, Colombia

Energies, 2021, vol. 14, issue 10, 1-16

Abstract: There is a need to look for alternative sources of renewable energy, especially in zones where people continue to live under energy poverty conditions. Consequently, to enhance the performance of energy systems, algorithms to support planning decisions are required. This article proposes a simulation-optimization framework to solve the stochastic version of the integrated energy dispatch and unit commitment problem for a solar radiation system operating in non-interconnected zones. Our study was motivated by challenges faced by a rural school located in Cundinamarca, Colombia. Particularly, a simulation with optimization-based iterations approach is used, modeling solar radiation as a random variable. The optimization phase uses a heuristic procedure that enables good solutions to be found in short computational times. To test our method, computational experiments were conducted using a set of randomly generated cases. The results suggest that our approach is useful and able to handle the random nature of the process for the school “Volcanes”. Additionally, we were able to quantify the impact that using a deterministic approach has on service levels for such systems. The novelty of the article lies in the proposed method and its application to a rural school with a low-budget system.

Keywords: energy poverty; solar energy; optimization; simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/10/2789/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/14/10/2789/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:14:y:2021:i:10:p:2789-:d:553393

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Agatha Cao

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().