Receding horizon operation control of a compressed natural gas station

Abstract

In order to lower the cost of gas delivery to consumers who use compressed natural gas to propel their vehicles, operators of compressed natural gas stations in locations where electricity is sold under time-of-use tariff pricing can adopt station operation strategies that result in lower energy costs to secure their revenue. While finite horizon open loop control has shown the potential for significant savings on electricity costs while meeting the gas demand profile, receding horizon control can increase the robustness of the scheduling optimization by delivering a convergent solution for continuous operation of the plant. The present work shows the performance of the compressed natural gas station when the receding horizon control strategy is implemented achieving savings of up to 56.7% and a solution for continuous operation.