Demand and supply planning method and demand and supply planning apparatus

A control apparatus for a microgrid having one or more fuel-powered generators generating energy, an energy storage device, and a load device to consume the energy, the control apparatus comprising:

• a processor configured to:
• acquire an optimization problem based on an energy transfer between an external energy supply system and the microgrid and further based on a fuel consumption in the microgrid;
• acquire a constraint condition that is based on a relationship between an operating duration time in each of the one or more fuel-powered generators at a start time for generating a supply-demand plan and a minimum operation time constraint of the fuel-powered generators;
• obtain a calculation result by calculating the optimization problem to which the constraint condition has been applied;
• generate the supply-demand plan based on the calculation result of the optimization problem;
• and
• send a command output to the microgrid, to control an operation of the one or more fuel-powered generators based on the supply-demand plan.

An energy grid system comprising:

• a microgrid that is connected to an external energy supply system, wherein the microgrid includes a fuel-powered generator to generate a supply of energy within the microgrid, and an energy management device configured to control the fuel-powered generator;
• and
• a processor configured to:
• acquire a first energy unit value of an external energy available in the external energy supply system, wherein the first energy unit value varies over time;
• acquire a second energy unit value of a fuel to be consumed by the fuel-powered generator, wherein the second energy unit value varies over time;
• acquire an energy demand that is predicted to occur in the microgrid, at future timings within a time period;
• acquire an objective function that represents a summation of:
• a first term value corresponding to the first energy unit value multiplied by an amount of the external energy to be supplied to the microgrid, at the future timings;
• and
• a second term value corresponding to the second energy unit value multiplied by an amount of the fuel to be consumed by the fuel-powered generator, at the future timings;
• optimize the objective function by setting the amount of the external energy to be supplied to the microgrid and the amount of the fuel to be consumed by the fuel-powered generator based on a comparison of the first energy unit value with the second energy unit value, at each of the future timings, to satisfy the energy demand that is predicted in the microgrid at the future timings, and to minimize the summation of the first term value and the second term value during the time period, wherein the amount of fuel to be consumed by the fuel-powered generator is further set for each of the future timings, based on a constraint condition that includes a minimum duration during which the fuel-powered generator is constrained to continue operating after starting to operate;
• generate a supply-demand plan including a planned operation state of the fuel-powered generator based on the amount of the fuel set in the optimized objective function, at each of the future timings;
• and
• send a command output to the energy management device of the microgrid, to selectively control the fuel-powered generator to operate or stop operating, at the future timings, according to the planned operation state of the supply-demand plan.