Modeling and Cost Optimization of an Islanded Virtual Power Plant: Case Study of Tunisia

The renewable energy resources placed a crucial aspect in all residential, and industrial communities. In this article presents the optimal sizing for the design of virtual power plant (VPP) to plan, and operate the system proposed is a solution for Djerba Island in Tunisia also to determine the management over six different models as taking the factor cost, economics, and environment criteria, etc. An analysis is carried out by studying the potentials of wind energy, solar energy, water flow, and biomass, as well as collecting data from different sources. For the optimization of the virtual power plant, the HOMER Pro is the software utilize for help analyze an available data, also an economical utility form virtual power system project with a battery. The results showed that the best structure of virtual power plant among all feasible configurations, with a net present cost of the design proposed is 314.846 $, and a cost of energy (COE) produced are 0.4031$. We have obtained a good result to use the sources of the proposed system by providing a cleaner, and environmentally friendly environment for the communities by using renewable energies resources meeting the charge requirements as per Kyoto protocol. Cite this article as: R. Ouederni, B. Bouaziz and F. Bacha, "Modeling and cost optimization of an islanded virtual power plant: Case study of tunisia," Turk J Electr Power Energy Syst, 2022; 2(2), 168-179.