Resource management optimization for a smart microgrid

Optimal planning of resources with daily/real time resource management is important for obtaining the most benefit from microgrids. There exist several mathematical models and heuristic rule based policies for microgrid resource management. Mathematical models provide optimal results, while heuristic policies are simple to implement but cannot guarantee optimality. Although both models are used in the literature, studies do not analyze the benefits of using mathematical models over heuristic rule based ones. This study proposes a mixed integer programming based mathematical model and a rule based model and compares their performances for a newly established microgrid at Turkey. Both models aim to minimize the daily cost of the microgrid by planning the use, sale, and storage of the energy obtained from the renewable resources. The results quantify the benefits of using the mathematical model over the rule based model for the case microgrid under different conditions. The analysis shows that the difference between the models' performances changes according to the energy pricing policy and seasons. Under certain conditions, the simple rule based policy can provide close to optimal results.