Abstract
The uncertainty introduced by intermittent renewable energy generation and prosumer energy imports
makes operational planning of renewable energy‐assisted prosumer microgrids challenging. This is due to the
difficulty in obtaining accurate forecasts of energy expected from these renewable energy sources and prosumers.
Operators of such microgrids therefore require additional grid‐balancing tools to maintain power supply and
demand balance during grid operation. In this paper, the impact of demand response aggregators (DRA’s) in a
prosumer microgrid is investigated. This is achieved by developing and solving a deterministic mathematical
formulation for the operational planning of the grid. Also, taking a cue from CAISO’s proposed tariff revision which
allows the state‐of‐charge of non‐generator resources (like storage units) to be submitted as a bid parameter in
the day‐ahead market and permits scheduling coordinators of these resources to self‐manage their energy limits
and state‐of‐charge, the proposed formulation permits prosumers to submit battery energy content as a bid
parameter and self‐manage their battery energy limits. Furthermore, a robust counterpart of the model is
developed. Both formulations are constrained mixed integer optimization problems which are solved using the
CPLEX solver in Advanced Interactive Multidimensional Modelling System (AIMMS) environment. Results
obtained from tests carried out on a hypothetical prosumer microgrid show that the operating cost of the
microgrid reduces in the presence of DRA’s. In addition, the storage facility owner may benefit from self‐managing
its energy limits, but this may cut the amount of grid‐balancing resource available to the microgrid operator,
thereby increasing the operating cost of the microgrid.