Abstract
From an environmental standpoint, sustainability focuses on conserving natural resources, reducing pollution, promoting biodiversity, and addressing the effects of climate change. In recent years, global warming and carbon emission reduction have become pressing global concerns, prompting governments to revise their policies and shift toward greater reliance on renewable energy sources (RESs). This study introduces the concept of a sustainable virtual power plant (SVPP), which is designed to manage the power output of distributed energy resources (DERs), maintain real-time balance between supply and demand using available resources, and minimize emissions. Given the increasing integration of RESs into power generation and the inherently variable nature of their input data, this study models uncertainties using a scenario-based approach. In addition, power system reliability is emphasized, as it ensures a consistent and stable supply of electricity, which is crucial for grid efficiency and resilience. The study explores the role of reliability in influencing both the operational costs and emission levels of a SVPP. Five case studies are examined, incorporating components such as demand response strategies and energy storage systems (ESSs). The findings demonstrate that optimizing the number of resources while accounting for reliability indices is a practical and efficient method for SVPP scheduling. The proposed strategy achieves a reduction in both costs and emissions by 3.73% and 47.9%, respectively when compared to traditional energy resource utilisation.