Optimal planning of the energy production mix in smart districts including renewable and cogeneration power plants

The choice of the location and size of plants for energy production (both from renewables and fossil fuels) is fundamental to cope with sustainability and emission reduction in smart cities. When the electrical grid is considered, it is necessary to guarantee an electrical demand in each time interval of a single day while the decisions related to installation have to be considered for the whole life time of generation units. In this work, a decision model is proposed for the planning of the energy production in a smart grid feeding a smart district. Specifically, the considered system is characterized by wind turbines, photovoltaic plants, cogeneration micro-turbines, boilers and a connection to the electrical grid. The input parameters of the available renewable resources, the electrical and thermal demands have been estimated on the basis of real data. The proposed model has been applied to a neighborhood in Savona, Italy. The proposed tool is aimed at supporting a central decision maker in planning investments in different urban areas, in the context of the transition from a traditional city to a “smart” one.