Reliability-based energy scheduling of active buildings subject to renewable energy and demand uncertainty

Abstract

The increasing penetration of renewable energy sources (RESs) and the inherent volatility in demand profiles have added another layer of complexity to the management of energy resources in modern active buildings (ABs). Yet, three challenges have been neglected in previous studies: (1) There is no universal systematic method for identifying an AB’s general stochastic model; (2) No research has been conducted on the reliability-based design optimization for ABs’ energy supply; (3) Uncertain sources are not categorized based on their importance in regard to the optimization problem. This article aims to solve these challenges by proposing a probabilistic-based optimization approach for solving the reliability issue of energy supply in buildings with on-site renewable energy sources (RESs), taking into account the uncertainty associated with photovoltaic (PV) production and demand fluctuations. The suggested framework seeks to reduce the overall costs of the system while ensuring high energy supply reliability. The proposed methodology, when applied to a real-world case study, demonstrates a 60% increase in reliability of energy supply as compared to typical deterministic methodologies.