Optimal Planning Design of a District-Level Integrated Energy System Considering the Impacts of Multi-Dimensional Uncertainties: A Multi-Objective Interval Optimization Method

Improving the utilization efficiency of renewable energy sources (RES) is an important task for the development of an integrated energy system (IES). To address this challenge, this paper proposes a novel multi-objective interval optimization framework for the energy hub (EH) planning problem from the perspective of the source load synergy, while considering the impacts of both supply- and demand-side uncertainties. For this aim, based on an in-depth analysis of the adjustable characteristics of various loads in EH and their effect on RES absorption, an interval model is first established to describe the responsiveness of users’ load demand to real-time energy price variations and its associated uncertainties. In view of the natural contradiction between the system’s economic and environmental benefits, a multi-objective interval optimization model for the EH planning problem is developed, wherein the minimization of the system’s economic costs and the maximization of the RES utilization rate are considered as the dual objectives to be optimized simultaneously. Moreover, this study takes into account the uncertainties of RES availability and demand-side behaviors by using interval numbers and properly considering their impacts in the context of long-term planning. According to the features of the proposed model, the interval order relation and possible degree method are jointly used to transform the model into a deterministic optimization problem first, and then an improved non-dominant sorting genetic algorithm is used to derive the optimal solution to the problem. The results show that the proposed method can effectively improve the economy of EH and the utilization efficiency of RES and flexibly meet different planning requirements, giving better engineering practicability.