Two-Stage Energy Management System of Microgrid in the Presence of Cryptocurrency Mining Farms

Abstract

Cryptocurrency mining farms (CMFs), as a new type of electrical load in the power grid, can cause issues in terms of security and stability due to their high consumption and excessive grid loading. These problems can lead to disruptions in the performance of the grid, resulting in increased network maintenance and repair costs, reduced reliability, and diminished power quality. Therefore, this article proposes an energy management framework for a microgrid in the presence of renewable sources and CMFs. The proposed model includes two stages of day-ahead and real-time scheduling. The first stage focuses on the day-ahead scheduling, minimizing the operation cost while increasing reliability. The second stage updates the first stage planning to minimize fluctuations for 5-minute time windows. The impact of increasing the demand of CMF on the operation cost is evaluated, and the results show that despite a 50% increase in demand, the overall cost increases by 7.34%.