Optimization of combined cooling, heating and power with energy storage using an absorption chiller and energy storage control strategy

Energy storage (ES) systems have attracted increasing interest as a means of storing the energy generated at one time for later use. In addition, distributed power generation (DG) resources such as wind, photovoltaics, fuel cells, and microturbines are used with ES systems. Thus, we develop a method to determine optimal DG-ES system combinations for electric and thermal grids. To this end, we model various DG resources by using input and output functions, characterize ES systems, and minimize life cycle costs. An absorption chiller (ABC) and ES scheduling strategy for DG-ES systems is also developed. Through optimal scheduling, we identify microturbines (MTs) with ABCs as the optimal DG resource and flywheel systems as the optimal ES system for urban residential communities (e.g., a case study of the Atlanta area in the United States). Thus, the second objective of this study is to determine the optimal hosting capacity (HC) of combined cooling, heating, and power (CCHP) systems using MTs, ABCs, and ES systems for cost and energy savings. This study also proposes a sensitivity analysis method to determine the optimal HC of CCHP and ES systems. As a result, we identify full- blast MT units with ABCs as the optimal DG resource and FW systems as the optimal ES system by using the proposed optimization method because this combination has the lowest generation cost of $4.69/kWh. The optimal HC of CCHP systems is 9.4 % of the peak demand for achieving cost and energy savings. In summary, this study selects the most effective type of DG, ES, or both and determines the HC of DG, ES, or both to achieve cost and energy savings when the CCHP system is available for DG, ABCs recover the chilled air and water from the waste heat, and ES is optimally scheduled.