A novel forecast-based operation strategy for residential PV-battery-flexible loads systems considering the flexibility of battery and loads

Leveraging the flexibility of static batteries and residential flexible loads is an effective way to reduce the impacts of intermittent renewable energy power generation on the utility grid. However, there is lack of proper operation strategies to manage these distributed energy resources. To address this problem, a novel forecasting and flexibility-based operation strategy was proposed for the photovoltaic-battery-flexible loads (PV-battery-FL) system of a single household. Compared with the traditional maximizing self-consumption and time-of-use strategies, the proposed strategy fully harnesses the flexibility of batteries and residential flexible loads, and is more grid-friendliness to the utility grid. To assess the performance of the PV-battery-FL system under the proposed strategy, a comprehensive evaluation framework was developed considering the economic and environmental performance, PV self-consumption, zero energy potential, and impacts on the utility grid. The effectiveness of the forecasting and flexibility-based strategy was validated by case studies given various scenarios. Results indicate that the proposed strategy performs better than the maximizing self-consumption and time-of-use strategies. Especially, the average ramping index reduction ratio of the forecasting and flexibility-based strategy was improved by 105.1% and 60.9%; the maximum power fed into the utility grid was decreased by 50.3%, compared with the maximizing self-consumption and time-of-use strategies for the PV-battery-FL system. When the feed-in limitation exists, the forecasting and flexibility-based strategy can also reduce the cut-off energy significantly. This study can provide guidance for the demand-side management of the battery and flexible loads of residential PV-battery-FL systems in practice.