Whole-day optimal operation of multiple combined heat and power systems by alternating direction method of multipliers and consensus theory

This paper proposes a distributed energy management system-based algorithm to solve the optimal schedule of multiple combined heat and power systems in which exponential efficiencies of fuel cells are considered. To deal with the variation in fuel cell efficiencies, the proposed algorithm utilizes the alternating direction method of multipliers, consensus theory, and quadratic programming to solve the optimization problem with constant efficiencies. Then, the efficiency matching is checked iteratively to verify the obtained result. The optimization algorithm is constructed in a whole-day distributed form, such that all time slot variables can be solved simultaneously in a distributed way. With the help of this simultaneous solution method, operation of hot tanks and combined heat and power systems can be scheduled globally. The proposed algorithm is tested successfully with a test system having 4 combined heat and power systems, showing fast convergence in numerous simulations.