Generalized Analytical Approach to Assess Reliability of Renewable-Based Energy Hubs

This paper proposes a generalized analytical approach to evaluate the reliability of active distribution networks. The studies are implemented in the context of renewable-based energy hubs. The reliability of energy demands is determined as a function of reliability characteristics of energy hub input resources and converters as well as hub operating strategies. The framework proposed in this paper involves the main attributes of different distributed generation technologies as well as vehicle-to-grid (V2G)-capable vehicles in the reliability studies. Dealing with the uncertainty in energy services provided by the wind turbine output generation and V2G programs, efficient probabilistic methods are presented to attain the reliability models of these energy resources for the studies. The fluctuations in energy demands are also represented through multistate analytical models. Convolving the probabilistic models of energy hub resources by the load profiles' models, different reliability indices are calculated taking into consideration possible operating strategies of the energy hubs. Effectiveness of the proposed methodology is validated using extensive numerical studies on an energy hub and the obtained results demonstrate its applicability in adequacy studies of active energy networks.