Application of smart grid specifications to overcome excessive load shedding in Alexandria, Egypt

Recently, limited generation capability of conventional thermal power plants due to shortage in fuel supply in addition to the rapid increase in load demand resulted in repeated and prolonged load shedding all over the country. To overcome this problem, the use of renewable energy sources (RES) and modifying the network into a smart grid are necessary. As the utility, in addition to the private sector of investors, are responsible for the construction of renewable energy plants, customers are responsible for the reduction of peak demand. Demand side management (DSM) programs are important tools in a smart grid that helps to reduce the peak demand and adjust the load profile with the contribution of customers. Energy resources planning integrating DSM lead to reduction in the overall operational cost, an increase in the reserve of generating units and improvement of the sustainability of the supply (reduction of load shedding). In this paper, a modified firefly based optimization algorithm is proposed for optimal DSM of different load types and optimal energy resources schedule. The objective of the proposed modified firefly algorithm (MFA) is to minimize the overall operational cost including consumed energy cost, generated energy cost, energy loss cost, grid energy cost, unserved energy cost and startup cost of thermal generating units. A day-ahead unit commitment planning of diesel generators is carried out to provide the required energy while keeping the spinning reserve of the units within its allowable limits. An economic dispatch of committed units is considered for minimum generation cost. The proposed MFA is applied to the 66 kV, 45 bus distribution network of Alexandria, Egypt which is supported by multiple, different types of distributed generating units (DGs).