In this paper, cost-efficient operation problem of photovoltaic/battery/fuel cell hybrid energy system has
been evaluated in the presence of demand response program. Each load curve has off-peak, mid and peak
time periods in which the energy prices are different. Demand response program transfers some amount
of load from peak periods to other periods to flatten the load curve and minimize total cost. So, the main
goal is to meet the energy demand and propose a cost-efficient approach to minimize system’s total cost
including system’s electrical cost and thermal cost and the revenue from exporting power to the
upstream grid. A battery has been utilized as an electrical energy storage system and a heat storage tank
is used as a thermal energy storage system to save energy in off-peak and mid-peak hours and then supply load in peak hours which leads to reduction of cost. The proposed cost-efficient operation problem of
photovoltaic/battery/fuel cell hybrid energy system is modeled by a mixed-integer linear program and
solved by General algebraic modeling system optimization software under CPLEX solver. Two case studies are investigated to show the effects of demand response program on reduction of total cost.