Smallflex-vpp-code

Smallflex-vpp-code is a framework designed for the optimal design and operation of Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) that integrate small-scale hydropower units with distributed renewable resources such as wind, solar photovoltaic (PV) systems, and Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS). Its primary objective is to maximize VPP revenue by participating in electricity markets through energy production and flexibility services for ancillary support.

The VPP targets three key electricity markets: day-ahead, intraday balancing, and flexibility (ancillary services). Since the number of possible VPP design configurations is limited, the profit and risk of each configuration can be evaluated individually.

To address computational tractability, a hierarchical optimization approach is applied across three stages:

1. Long-term planning
2. Short-term/day-ahead scheduling
3. Real-time balancing

This structure ensures efficient estimation of optimal operation while considering the limited set of design schemes.

Initial Setup

To install all dependencies on a new machine, run:

make install-all

You will need a Gurobi license to run this project. Visit https://license.gurobi.com/, request a new WSL license for your machine, and save it to ~/gurobi_license/gurobi.lic.

Activating the Virtual Environment and Setting Environment Variables

Each time you start working on the project, activate the virtual environment by running:

make venv-activate

Run examples

The examples are located in the examples folder. The provided example focuses exclusively on the Aegina–Alstafel hydropower plant use case.

The input data are protected and confidential, so they are not freely available. You must contact the project owner to obtain the necessary credentials (the .secrets.toml file) required to download the input data.

1. Run 01_download_from_switch_file.py to download the input data.
2. Run 02_vpp_design_scheme_optimization.py to execute the algorithm. In this example, a market_prices.csv file is included to demonstrate how to provide custom market prices. If you want to use your own market price data, simply update the file path passed as an argument to the vpp_design_scheme function.