Uncertainties in the design and operation of distributed energy resources: The case of micro-CHP systems

Michiel Houwing, Austin N. Ajah, Petra W. Heijnen, Ivo Bouwmans and Paulien M. Herder

Energy, 2008, vol. 33, issue 10, 1518-1536

Abstract: Large-scale diffusion of distributed energy resources (DERs) will have a profound impact on electricity infrastructure functioning: it will bring radical changes to the traditional model of generation and supply as well as to the business model of the energy industry. DERs comprise distributed power generators, distributed energy storages and controllable loads. There are, however, many uncertainties that influence the design and operation of DERs. This paper clarifies these uncertainties by proposing and applying a comprehensive framework for uncertainty analysis. We thereby adopt an integrated approach that considers not only the technical, but also the economic and institutional uncertainties. A delineation of the work is a focus on residential DERs and on micro-CHP systems specifically. After the proposed framework for uncertainty analysis is explained the uncertainties pertaining to the design and operation of residential DERs and micro-CHP systems are identified. In a case study system a selection of the uncertainties are quantitatively analysed. The case study system consists of a household that intelligently applies a micro-CHP unit in conjunction with energy storages and that interacts with its energy supplier. With a sensitivity analysis of the system model the salient impacts of the uncertainties on system behaviour and performance are enunciated.

Keywords: Demand response; Distributed energy resources; Energy efficiency; Micro-combined heat and power; Model predictive control; Residential electricity usage; Uncertainty analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2008
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (39)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0360544208001709
Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only

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:eee:energy:v:33:y:2008:i:10:p:1518-1536

DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2008.07.003

Access Statistics for this article

Energy is currently edited by Henrik Lund and Mark J. Kaiser

More articles in Energy from Elsevier
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Catherine Liu ().