Optimization and Performance Analysis of a Distributed Energy System Considering the Coordination of the Operational Strategy and the Fluctuation of Annual Hourly Load

Round 1

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors propose a new approach to optimize the performances of a Distributed Energy System (DES) via a multi-objective framework that includes genetic and mixed integer linear programming algorithms. 

 

The paper should be carefully checked since there are sentences that can be misleading and the excessive use of acronyms sentences affects the readability of the paper. 

Moreover, the English language should be carefully revised in the whole paper by a native speaker because the reading is very heavy.

There are also multiple acronyms/names never defined. Please check the whole manuscript in this sense. 

 

A list of the main comments/doubts/request is as follows:

 

Abstract

 - line 13: The acronym DES is not specified explicitly 

 

1. Introduction

 This is very well structured in terms of a broad overview of the problem, good narrativity, and technical soundness.

- line 31: “…emissions in the building, ..”? what does it mean? maybe it is refuse?

- lines 63-64 should be rewritten in proper English since there are many repetitions

- line 68: “some scholars” -> “..different research works improved…”, the word scholars is out of context here better “researcher” (check the whole paper for this term)

- lines 94-98 should be rewritten in proper English since they state the main reason behind the work on this paper. At the moment it is not understandable

- line 105: GA and MILP are not defined 

 

 In addition:

 - When speaking of management and optimization of DES the authors should aware that previous work has been done also and the so-called hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) is a different name for DES. The authors should consult such literature background to enhance differences from their work (see e.g., “A sequential linear programming algorithm for economic optimization of hybrid renewable energy systems

” )

 

- Consider citing a recent paper that also dealt with multi-objective optimization to balance results between profit and energy costs of a chemical plant (see “Optimally Managing Chemical Plant Operations: An Example Oriented by Industry 4.0 Paradigms”)

 

2. Model and Method 

- line 112: HRSG is not defined

- line 115: driving -> drive; remove “to do work and the generator”  

- line 117-119 rewrite because it is not understandable, there are also multiple english errors. In addition, the description seems to not match Figure 1.

- Figure 1: there are some symbols not defined (P_e, P_h) and moreover I believe that the Gas Turbine and Gas Boiler should be in separate shapes from what I understand from the description

- line 130: typo: “…which composed by the… ” 

- line 131: word algorithm is repeated

- In Figure 2 indicate explicitly the MILP block (I believe it is the union of the two grey blocks inside the iteration

- line 142: DeST? what is it? a brief description and a reference is needed.

- lines 142-145 should be rewritten and condensed since they are full of repetitions

- lined 150-157 are not really understandable even consulting Figure 3 (in which there are symbols not defined anywhere). The authors should better clarify

- line 164: this sentence is missing a verb

- line 179: typo: “matric”

- line 256; what do you do with the surplus of heat in such a case? The authors should detail. Do you account for it in the objective function as a “minus” in the efficiency?

- eq (29): CE is the Carbon Emission or the Cooling-Electricity ratio? The author should clarify this misunderstanding

- I believe that the first inequation of lines 315 and 321 is wrong if I correctly understood how the authors want to explain figure 6.

-line 328 and Figure 6: HE? what is it? It is not defined anywhere

- line 352: misaligned

- in the whole section 2 I could not understand which ones are the optimization variables that you can manipulate to minimize the objective function. The authors should clearly state the internal optimization problem 

 

3. Case study 

- Figure 8 is not mentioned in the text

- Table 3: the HOS strategy seems to be the worst since the CEI is the highest in opposition to what is wanted in (3a) but the numbers seem to be the best in terms of ATC, CE and EE.. the authors should clarify/fix this contradiction 

- line 403: typo: Figure 9

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Reviewer 2 Report

1. Abstract needs to be written in the present tense. Moreover, the authors need to highlight how the proposed strategy stands out as compared to other work in this domain.

2. The whole paper has been written in past tense. Changes need to be made to improve upon this.

3. Equations have not been described properly. For eg. in line 192 and line 193, "change rate of building" is used. Clarify it.

4. Contribution of the paper is not very clear. Authors need to work on presenting their idea citing the merit of the proposed strategy and how it stands out with extant research. 

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf

Round 2

Reviewer 1 Report

The authors have critically answered most of my comments\doubts thus improving the quality of the paper. 

I suggest a complete and careful revision of the text since different typos/misleading sentences can still be found. Please check the whole paper.

A list of what I found that still needs fixing is as follows:

- I believe I have not found any reference talking about hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES) while there are already several for CCHP and IES. I believe the reader would find it interesting and also more clear if the authors explicitly declare something similar to what was already stated in the reply to this reviewer "According to the references we have consulted so far, the distributed energy system (DES) has multiple synonymous names, such as hybrid renewable energy systems (HRES), combined cooling, heating and power (CCHP), integrated energy system (IES)" with appropriate refs (you can use the ones you have already and for HRES the one suggested in the previous revision). 

- at line 49: Marco et al. -> Vaccari et al. 

- line 54: missing space after [14]

- the wording scholar should be changed to researchers as already asked in the first revision

- line 112: analyze -> analyzing

- line 127: SP is already defined

- line 135: couldn't -> could not 

- line 182: I feel this sentence has to phrases that mean the same thing. Delete from the comma, i.e. "The fluctuation of the load is quantitatively described by the variance of hourly cooling, heating, and power load.  "

- in the whole paper: at the time i -> at time i

- line 194: Take -> Taking

Author Response

Please see the attachment.

Author Response File: Author Response.pdf