Optimal coordinate operation control for wind–photovoltaic–battery storage power-generation units

•Adopt ‘rainflow’ calculation method to establish the battery cycle life model and quantitatively calculate the life wreck.•Minimize unit cost of power generation through enhanced gravitational search algorithm.•Analyze the relationship between renewable resource potential and the economic efficiency of power generation unit.

An optimal coordinate operation control method for large-scale wind–photovoltaic (PV)–battery storage power generation units (WPB-PGUs) connected to a power grid with rated power output was proposed to address the challenges of poor stability, lack of decision-making, and low economic benefits. The “rainflow” calculation method was adopted to establish the battery cycle life model and to calculate quantitatively the life expectancy loss in the operation process. To minimize unit cost of power generation, this work optimized the output period of the equipment and strategy of battery charging and discharging with consideration of working conditions, generation equipment characteristics, and load demand by using the enhanced gravitational search algorithm (EGSA). A case study was conducted on the basis of data obtained using WPB-PGU in Zhangbei, China. Results showed that the proposed method could effectively minimize the unit cost of a WPB-PGU under different scenarios and diverse meteorological conditions. The proposed algorithm has high calculation accuracy and fast convergence speed.