Energy Cost of an Independent Micro-grid with Control of Power Output Sharing of a Distributed Engine Generator

Small kerosene diesel-engine power generators are introduced into an independent micro-grid (IMG) that connects 20 houses, and power and heat are supplied to them. A 3 kW engine generator is installed in six houses, and a boiler and a heat storage tank are also installed, and exhaust heat to make up for insufficiency is supplied. The boiler is installed in the house that does not install the engine generator, and heat is supplied to the demand side. Partial load operation of the engine generator has a large influence on power generation efficiency. Therefore, this paper discusses the system that controls the power of the engine generator by the power distribution control system using the genetic algorithm (GA), and the control system that changes the number of operations of the engine generators according to the magnitude of the power load. As a case study, the energy-demand model of the 20 houses in Sapporo was analyzed. As a result, the annual energy cost of the number of operations system and the power distribution control system is reducible with 16% and 8% compared with the conventional method, respectively. However, it depends for this cutback effect on the heat demand characteristic greatly, and when the proposed system is introduced into a community with little heat demand, effectiveness will decrease greatly.