Optimal robust operation of combined heat and power systems with demand response programs

•Economic operation of CHP system under demand response concept.•Uncertainty-based performance CHP system against electrical load uncertainty.•Uncertainty modeling via robust optimization technique.•Strengthened robust performance of CHP system under demand response concept. Efficiency improvement of generation units with different scales in energy systems has always been considered as an important issue. In conventional power systems, a big share of energy portfolio (40−60%) could be wasted since generation systems are not capable to efficiently use input energy. One solution to this problem is to incorporate combined heat and power (CHP) systems to form a multi-carrier energy hub and increase energy efficiency. In this paper, an optimization framework is developed for optimal operation of a CHP system in an uncertain environment considering demand response actions. The examined CHP-based energy system is composed of a gas turbine, heat pump, storage systems and boiler units to generate heat for space heating (SH) and domestic hot water (DHW) demands. Robust optimization framework is also employed to determine the true operating mode of CHP system (namely risk-averse, risk-neutral, or risk-taker) in the examined uncertain environment. Furthermore, a time-of-use (TOU) price-based demand response program (DRP) is used to enhance system’s economic operation by changing the energy consumption pattern of end-users during the study period. Simulation results demonstrate that without DRPs, robust operation of CHP-based microgrid is obtained against 30% of more electrical load by experiencing 10.048% more operation cost while the same degree of robustness is obtained by experiencing 10.019% more operation cost considering DRPs.