Enhanced Sufficient Battery Model for Aggregate Flexibility of Thermostatically Controlled Loads Considering Coupling Constraints

TL;DR

This paper introduces an enhanced sufficient battery model (ESBM) and a binary search algorithm to accurately characterize the aggregate flexibility of thermostatically controlled loads, considering coupling constraints to improve power system operation.

Contribution

The paper presents a novel ESBM that reduces conservativity and incorporates coupling constraints, advancing the modeling of TCL aggregate flexibility.

Findings

ESBM effectively reduces conservativity compared to previous models.

The binary search algorithm provides a sharp inner-approximation of flexibility.

Numerical tests demonstrate the model's practical significance for power system management.

Abstract

This letter proposes an enhanced sufficient battery model (ESBM) as well as a binary search algorithm for a sharp inner-approximation of the aggregate flexibility of thermostatically controlled load (TCL) arrays. Compared with the previous work on generalized battery models, this ESBM preserves the merits of being sufficient and mitigates the conservativity. Moreover, unlike the work ignoring the coupling constraints that may also restrict TCLs' aggregate flexibility, our ESBM can readily handle these constraints. Numerical tests validate the merits of using the ESBM and its significance for power system operations.