A fair electricity market strategy for energy management and reliability enhancement of islanded multi-microgrids

Abstract This paper proposes an electricity market strategy for the optimal operation of multi-microgrids (MMGs). A new techno-economical objective function is proposed that accounts for the profit of microgrid owners (MGOs), reduces energy not supplied (ENS), and enhances the reliability of microgrids (MGs). An MMG includes multiple MGs that can transfer their power to the upstream grid as well as other MGs in an optimized fashion. Each MG possesses various generation sources such as photovoltaic, wind turbine generators, combined heat and power units, diesel generators, and batteries. Weibull, beta, and normal distribution functions are used for probabilistic modeling of renewable energy sources and loads. Moreover, the security constraints of the MGs, and particular penalties for MGOs when their customers experience the power outage are considered. A new electricity market strategy and energy transaction method among MGs are proposed that improves the profit of the MGOs. Wild Goats Algorithm (WGA) is used as the optimization technique. Different test scenarios are simulated considering different MMG's operational modes. The proposed approach ensures that in an MMG environment all microgrids have the same percentage of profit increment compared to their maximum possible profit. Simulation results show that all MGOs can earn an equal percentage (around 72%) of their maximum possible profit by participating in the proposed electricity market. Moreover, it is shown that the proposed energy market improves customer satisfaction, enhances MG’s reliability, fairly allocates profit of MGOs, and minimizes the total cost.