Multi-Objective Distributed Economic Dispatch for Multi-Microgrid with Hydrogen Energy Storage Considering Communication Delay

In a multi-microgrid (MMG) system, flexible loads (FLs) and hydrogen energy storage systems (HESS) are crucial for demand response, significantly improving system reliability. However, communication delays may hinder the timely scheduling of FLs, HESS, and generators, potentially reducing operational efficiency. To address this challenge, a multi-objective distributed economic dispatch (MODED) strategy is proposed, considering both communication delay and FLs. The strategy employs a unified framework that ensures comprehensive optimization by transforming the economic dispatch problem (EDP) of MMG into a multi-agent consensus problem. The MMG model is constructed with multiple microgrids (MGs), each comprising diesel generators (DGs), renewable energy (RE), and FLs. Meanwhile, it improves environmental sustainability that considering both the environmental pollution caused by fossil fuels and inclusion of HESS in economic scheduling improves environmental sustainability. Firstly, the incremental costs of generators (DGs and RE) and benefits of FLs are marginal costs by leveraging multi-agent consensus theory, ensuring optimal power generation and maintaining the supply-demand balance within each MG. Then the maximum allowable communication delay bound is determined by Z-transform and generalized Nyquist. Furthermore, an improved Metropolis method is proposed to solve the weight matrix in the consensus algorithm, facilitating accurate power flow interactions between the MGs and accelerating system convergence. Stability analysis of the proposed method is also conducted. Finally, the effectiveness and economic benefits of the proposed strategy are demonstrated through experiments.