Operation and Configuration of a Storage Portfolio via Convex Optimization

Abstract We consider a portfolio of storage devices which is used to modify a commodity flow so as to minimize an average cost function. The individual storage devices have different parameters that characterize attributes such as capacity, maximum charging rates, and losses in charging and storage. We address two problems related to such a system. The first is the problem of operating a portfolio of storage devices in real-time, i.e., making real-time decisions as to how to charge or discharge each of the storage devices in response to the fluctuating commodity flow and cost function. The second is the problem of configuring the portfolio of storage devices, i.e., choosing a single portfolio from a set of candidate portfolios. Here we are given the cost of each candidate portfolio as a function of its parameters, and seek to minimize a combination of initial configuration cost and average operating cost. In this paper, we show how both problems can be approximately solved using convex optimization.