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Market and network integration of distributed energy resources can be facilitated by their coordination within a virtual power plant (VPP). However, VPP operation subject to network limits and different market and physical uncertainties is a challenging task. This paper introduces a framework that co-optimizes the VPP provision of multiple market (e.g., energy, reserve), system (e.g., fast frequency response, inertia, upstream reactive power), and local network (e.g., voltage support) services with the aim of maximizing its revenue. To ensure problem tractability, while accommodating the uncertain nature of market prices, local demand, and renewable output and while operating within local network constraints, the framework is broken down into three sequentially coordinated optimization problems. Specifically, a scenario-based robust optimization for day-ahead resource scheduling, with linearized power flows, and two receding horizon optimizations for close-to-real-time dispatch, with a more accurate second-order cone relaxation of the power flows. The results from a real Australian case study demonstrate how the framework enables effective deployment of VPP flexibility to maximize its multi-service value stack, within an uncertain operating environment, and within technical limits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Royal Australian Navy's Patrol Boat Force carries out essential tasks in the surveillance, policing and defence of Australia's coastal waters. To help the Navy make efficient use of a new generation of boats, the authors have developed optimization procedures to schedule the activities of the boats and their crews. The procedures—embodied in a software system called CBM ('Crews, Boats, Missions')—use simulated annealing and specialized heuristic techniques within a multi-stage problem-solving framework. Tests show that CBM is reliable in terms of solution quality, and flexible with respect to the range of scheduling conditions applied. CBM has proved valuable to the Navy as an investigatory tool, and it is planned that it should be adapted for operational use, as part of a decision support system to aid in the ongoing management of patrol boat operations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]