A robust flexibility evaluation method for distributed multi-energy microgrid in supporting power distribution system

Today’s power system is facing various challenges brought by large-scale renewable energy (RE) integration, which brings higher demand for flexibility. With the energy network gradually showing its distributed structural characteristics, multi-energy microgrids (MEMG) become an important component to effectively utilize distributed energy sources and supplement the flexibility of power distribution system (PDS). To effectively harness the operational flexibility of distributed MEMGs, we propose in this paper an evaluation method to quantify the flexibility capability of MEMG. A virtually established MG flexibility bus (MG-FB) is endowed with MG flexibility parameters (MG-FPs), which can reflect the flexibility characteristics of MEMG. To consider the impact of operational uncertainty on MG-FPs, a two-stage adaptive robust optimization (ARO) model is proposed, which can be solved by the C&CG algorithm. The results of a typical test system show the influence of system configuration, operator’s risk preference, and other factors on the values of MG-FPs. Besides, we illustrate the effectiveness and applicability of the proposed framework in modeling and quantifying the operational flexibility of MEMG to support the operation of the upstream network.