Jones Seminar: Distributed Energy Resources Under Net Energy Metering—Optimal decisions and adoption dynamics

Optional ZOOM LINK
Meeting ID: 962 3557 9087
Passcode: 651327

Distributed energy resources (DERs), such as rooftop solar, batteries, and flexible demands, have fundamentally transformed the energy and monetary transaction model between distribution utilities and their customers. This talk focuses on the co-optimization of behind-the-meter DERs for prosumers under the net energy metering (NEM) tariff. The DERs considered include renewable generation, flexible demands, and battery energy storage systems.

The first part of the talk introduces a novel energy management system that co-optimizes consumption and battery storage based on locally available stochastic renewable energy. This is achieved by solving a stochastic dynamic program designed to maximize the expected operational surplus. To address the exponential computational complexity of solving such programs, we propose a closed-form co-optimization algorithm with linear computational complexity. This algorithm leverages a relaxation-projection approach to a constrained stochastic dynamic program. Additionally, sufficient conditions for the optimality of the proposed solution are derived. Numerical studies demonstrate a substantial reduction in computational costs and a significantly reduced optimality gap compared to traditional approaches.

The second part of the talk use the optimized DER schedules to analyze the impact of different NEM implementations on the adoption dynamics of renewable energy technologies.

Co-hosted by Professors Cong Chen and Geoffrey Parker.

About the Speaker(s)

Ahmed Alahmed
Postdoctoral Fellow & Assistant Professor, King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals

Ahmed Alahmed is the Ibn Rushd Postdoctoral Fellow and assistant professor at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals. He received his PhD in electrical and computer engineering from Cornell University in 2024. He previously completed his BSc and MSc in electrical and computer engineering at King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in 2016 and 2019, respectively. Ahmed has conducted advanced research as a PhD intern at leading institutions, including the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, the Electric Power Research Institute, and The Brattle Group. He is the recipient of three best paper awards and was honored with the MiSK Fellowship in 2022, which led to his nomination as a member of the Saudi Leadership Society. In 2024, Ahmed won the Ibn Rushd Postdoctoral Fellowship to conduct research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
 

Ahmed's research focuses on the control and optimization of energy systems, DER aggregation and adoption dynamics, and mechanisms design for transactive energy systems.

Contact

For more information, contact Amos Johnson at amos.l.johnson@dartmouth.edu.