Energy procurement in local energy markets using portfolio theory for customers

Motivated by the incentives of policies, renewable generation is flourishing at a high rate to distribution networks. To integrate it effectively and efficiently, local energy trading and local markets have been proposed and applied in practice. With the substantial penetration of renewables in local energy markets, there are severe uncertainties in energy procurement for customers to comprehensively consider. This paper proposes a novel portfolio-theory-based approach for customers to make decisions in procuring energy in local energy markets from various types of providers. A new local market model is designed, which consists of the day-ahead market and real-time market. The portfolio theory is adopted as a tool to help customers to procure energy from multiple suppliers to minimize total energy costs and associated risk simultaneously. The selection of portfolios is fundamentally different regarding their individual risk preferences. Based on the mathematic modeling, portfolio optimization is conducted and the optimal procurement strategies can be generated for consumers under their acceptable risk level. The model has been extensively demonstrated in the case with renewable and traditional energy providers.