Modeling of an Energy Node

Peter Andersson

In Sweden, the demand on the electrical grid is increasing with the shift from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources. It is thereby important to optimize the energy nodes connected to the grid. These energy nodes are defined as being connected to the electricity grid while providing energy to users. To decrease the demand on the grid and electricity costs, local energy generation and storage are part of the energy nodes.

In the thesis a model of an energy node is created using the programming language Python. Using data available on traffic flow, weather and energy prices the model simulates the operation at a selected location, by minute over a year. When the local generation is unable to match the present vehicle load, decisions have to be made on which energy source to use out of the grid, battery or hydrogen storage. By creating a system where energy stored in the energy node has a value depending on the price of the energy when storing it, this value can be compared with the current grid spot price of energy to each moment decide which source is most optimal to use. The same system can also be used to decide where to store local energy generation that is leftover when vehicle loads are already matched.

Using the simulation results, iterative optimization of the energy node subsystems is done to get a cost-effective system. Having optimized the subsystems for the chosen location, it is possible to use these values to simulate different results of interest, which is done at the end of the thesis.