Multi-objective placement and sizing of energy hubs in energy networks considering generation and consumption uncertainties

This paper presents the placement and sizing of energy hubs (EHs) in electricity, gas, and heating networks. EH is a coordinator framework for various power sources, storage devices, and responsive loads. For simultaneous modeling of economic, operation, reliability, and flexibility indices, the proposed scheme is expressed as a three-objective optimization in the form of Pareto optimization based on the sum of weighted functions. The objective functions of this problem respectively minimize the planning cost of EHs (equal to the total cost of construction of hubs and their expected operating cost), the expected energy loss of the mentioned networks, and the expected energy not-supplied (EENS) of these networks in the case of an N - 1 event. The problem is constrained by power flow equations and operation and reliability constraints of these network together with the EH planning and operation model, and flexibility constraints of the EHs. Then, to achieve unique optimal solution in the shortest possible time, a linear approximation model is extracted for the proposed scheme. Moreover, scenario-based stochastic programming (SBSP) is employed to model uncertainties of load, energy cost, renewable power, and accessibility of the mentioned network equipment. Finally, the obtained numerical results indicate the capability of the proposed scheme in enhancing the economic and flexibility situation of EHs and improving the reliability and operation status of energy networks along with achieving optimal planning and operation for EHs.