Real-Time Price Elasticity Reinforcement Learning for Low Carbon Energy Hub Scheduling Based on Conditional Random Field

Energy hub scheduling plays a vital role in optimally integrating multiple energy vectors, e.g., electricity and gas, to meet both heat and electricity demand. A scalable scheduling model is needed to adapt to various energy sources and operating conditions. This paper proposes a conditional random field (CRF) method to analyse the intrinsic characteristics of energy hub scheduling problems. Building on these characteristics, a reinforcement learning (RL) model is designed to strategically schedule power and natural gas exchanges as well as the energy dispatch of energy hub. Case studies are performed by using real-time digital simulator that enables dynamic interactions between scheduling decisions and operating conditions. Simulation results show that the CRF-based RL method can approach the theoretical optimal scheduling solution after 50 days training. Scheduling decisions are particularly more dependent on received price information during peak-demand period. The proposed method can reduce 9.76% of operating cost and 1.388 ton of carbon emissions per day, respectively.