Reliability and quality control for distributed wind/solar energy integration: a multi-criteria approach

Abstract

A distributed generation system that integrates wind and solar energy has emerged as a new paradigm for power supply. The goal of distributed generation planning is to determine the generation capacity, placement, and maintenance such that the system performance is optimized. In prior studies, the decision is often made assuming a deterministic operating condition. Power intermittency and equipment cost are the main challenges in deploying a wind- and solar-based energy solution. This article proposes a multi-criteria generation planning model to maximize the renewable energy throughput while minimizing its cost. The system is designed under stringent reliability and power quality criteria stipulated as loss-of-load-probability and voltage variation, respectively. A variance propagation model is derived to decouple the voltage correlations between upstream and downstream nodes. A two-stage, metaheuristic algorithm is developed to search for the non-dominant solution set. Our approach differs from existing planning methods in that we implement a statistical quality control mechanism to reduce the voltage drops. A 13-node distribution network is used to demonstrate the performance of the proposed method.

Keywords:

• Distributed energy resources
• onsite generation
• multi-criteria optimization
• power quality
• variation propagation

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the reviewers and the Department Editor for the detailed comments and valuable suggestions during the multiple revisions, which led to significant improvements of the article. The authors acknowledge the support of the USDA (2011-38422-30803), the NNSF of China (71201097), and Qatar National Research Fund (NPRP 4-631-2-233).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Tongdan Jin

Tongdan Jin is an Associate Professor in the Ingram School of Engineering at Texas State University. He obtained his Ph.D. in Industrial and Systems Engineering from Rutgers University. His M.S. and BSEE are from Beijing Institute of Technology and Shaaxi University of Science and Technology, respectively. Between 2001 and 2006, he held a position at Teradyne Inc. where he participated in cutting-edge, cross-disciplinary projects to improve the manufacturing and services of high-end testing solutions. His research is sponsored by NSF, the USDA, and the U.S. Department of Education. He is a recipient of Evans-McElroy best conference paper in RAMS 2014. He has authored and co-authored over 100 journal and conference papers across the areas of energy, reliability/quality, and supply chains. His current research interests focus on renewable energy integration, reliability modeling and optimization, and product-service integration.

Ying Yu

Ying Yu is an Associate Professor in the School of Mechatronics Engineering and Automation at Shanghai University. She received B.S. and M.S. degrees from the Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics University and a Ph.D. in Systems Engineering from Southeast University, China. She worked as a software engineer at Zhongxing Telecommunication Equipment Corporation in 2001–2002. During 2008–2009, she was a visiting scholar at Texas A&M International University. Her research is funded by the National Natural Science Funds of China. Her current research interests include reliability modeling and system optimization, project scheduling, power market simulation and optimization, and bidding mechanism design.

Elsayed Elsayed

Elsayed Elsayed is a professor in the Department of Industrial Engineering, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He is also Director of the NSF/Industry/University Co-operative Research Center for Quality and Reliability Engineering, Rutgers-Arizona State University. His research interests are in the areas of quality and reliability engineering and production planning and control. He is a co-author of Quality Engineering in Production Systems, McGraw Hill, 1989, and Reliability Engineering, John Wiley & Sons, 2012. These two books received the IIE Joint Publishers Book-of-the-Year Award. He is also a co-author of Analysis and Control of Production Systems, second edition Prentice-Hall, 1994. He is the author and co-author of work published in IIE Transactions, IEEE Transactions, and the International Journal of Production Research. His research has been funded by the DoD, FAA, NSF, and industry. He has been a consultant for AT&T Bell Laboratories, Ingersoll-Rand, Johnson & Johnson, Personal Products, AT&T Communications, Ethicon, and other companies. He was the Editor-in-Chief of IIE Transactions and the Editor of IIE Transactions on Quality and Reliability Engineering. He is also an Editor for the International Journal of Reliability, Quality and Safety Engineering. He serves on the Editorial Boards of other journals such as International Journal of Production Research and Computers and Industrial Engineering.