| This thesis presents design and planning methods for the development of microgrids in remote communities using renewable energy resources. The analysis is not only limited to the economic point of view, but also covers the social and regulatory impacts. Literature shows that the optimal sizing and location of distributed energy resources (DER) is critical for the correct operation of a microgrid. A multi-objective evolutionary optimization algorithm (MOEA) was developed for these purposes. In order to show the flexibility and applicability of the algorithm, a case study is presented. The development of microgrid brings a new paradigm in energy consumption of end-users, thus it is required to build a strong social agreement between the microgrids' stakeholders. Consequences and possible scenarios for stakeholder engagement are discussed. This thesis has two main contributions, first, the incorporation of optimization models based in MOEA to solve microgrids' planning and design problems. A second contribution is a link between the technical and the social aspects using a sustainability framework. |
