Optimization Methods for the Smart Grid

The world’s energy landscape is changing fast. Three key drivers are remolding power sys- tems: renewable energies penetration, expansion of markets and of new players, deployment of telecommunication technology and smart meters. This report highlights how these changes impact and challenge the mathematical discipline of optimization. It displays interactions between the energy sector and the academic community, with testimonies from both parts. More precisely, the report lays out optimization models and methods especially adapted to the smart grid paradigm. This paradigm is characterized by i) a growing number of decentralized and intermittent means of production (like solar and wind energies, the possible irregularity of which can complicate production management), ii) the deployment of smart meters and the development of automation of electric storage and electricity consuming devices (these intelligent and communicating equipments being supposed to make the electric consumption more controllable, hence more flexible). We develop to some extent different mathematical formulations of optimization problems, especially under uncertainty, because they open the way for different resolution methods. We dicuss several case studies. We have chosen a progressive and pedagogical exposition, mixing point of views of the energy sector and of the academic community, with the goal to make collaborations easier, especially regarding stochastic optimization.

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