Day-ahead self-scheduling from risk-averse microgrid operators to provide reserves and flexible ramping ancillary services

In this paper, a new decision-making framework is proposed for the day-ahead self-scheduling problem of microgrids, in which the microgrid operator (MGO) can provide ancillary services for both the independent system operator (ISO) and the distribution system operator (DSO). The MGO provides the reserve and flexible ramping product (FRP) services for the ISO through participating in the corresponding markets. Also, the MGO reschedules its resources to provide the requested services for the DSO. To model the uncertain behavior of the renewable energy resource, demand, and real-time energy price, the MGO problem is modeled as a two-stage stochastic model. Then, the uncertainties of the reserve and the FRP deployment in real-time operation are modeled using the information gap decision theory approach. The results show the effects of the different strategies in scheduling the local resources adopted by the MGO to participate in the energy and ancillary service markets. In the risk-based model proposed for the MGO, increasing the risk parameter decreases the capacity of the provided reserve and ramp-up FRP while it increases the energy sold to the day-ahead energy market.