Multi-Objective Optimization Framework for Integration of Distributed Energy Resources in Smart Communities

This paper studies a multi-objective optimization problem on the allocation problem of photovoltaic (PV) and battery energy storage systems (BESSs) in a community, whereby the aim is to find Pareto optimal solutions according to two different set of objective functions. These objective functions are minimizing the dependency of the whole community or each household on the national grid and minimizing the investment, operation, and maintenance costs of PV and BESS units. A Parallel Multi-Objective Multi-Verse optimization (PMOMVO) algorithm is developed to obtain the Pareto optimal solutions for the problems. The optimization framework is used to determine all Pareto front solutions in a real community and the results are compared to the base case scenario of the community. The Pareto solutions show that by small investment in the BESS units, community can be less dependent on the national grid even with less PV panels installed in the community.