Distributionally Robust Model Predictive Control for Virtual Power Plants

Fuente: arXiv
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Main Authors: Recke, Nikolas, de Badyn, Mathias Hudoba
Format: Preprint
Published: 2026
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author Recke, Nikolas
de Badyn, Mathias Hudoba
author_facet Recke, Nikolas
de Badyn, Mathias Hudoba
contents This paper presents a distributionally robust model predictive control (DRMPC) framework for the optimal Virtual Power Plant (VPP) operation under electricity price uncertainty. A unified VPP model is formulated that captures the interaction between buildings, battery storage, and renewable generation, all influenced by exogenous weather and market signals. The proposed approach integrates data-driven forecasting with quantile-based uncertainty quantification to construct time-varying Wasserstein ambiguity sets that adapt to forecast dispersion and distributional shifts. This yields a tractable DR-MPC formulation that incorporates predictive distribution information directly into real-time decision making. The method is evaluated using real weather and market data from a Nordic case study across two seasonal scenarios. The results show that DR-MPC improves economic performance relative to standard forecast-based MPC when the ambiguity radius is chosen appropriately, with consistent gains of up to 0.8% for small radii across both seasonal scenarios. Larger radii become overly conservative and reduce revenue, underscoring the importance of proper radius selection. These findings demonstrate the practical value of distributionally robust optimization for uncertainty-aware VPP operation.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_14642
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Distributionally Robust Model Predictive Control for Virtual Power Plants
Recke, Nikolas
de Badyn, Mathias Hudoba
Systems and Control
Optimization and Control
This paper presents a distributionally robust model predictive control (DRMPC) framework for the optimal Virtual Power Plant (VPP) operation under electricity price uncertainty. A unified VPP model is formulated that captures the interaction between buildings, battery storage, and renewable generation, all influenced by exogenous weather and market signals. The proposed approach integrates data-driven forecasting with quantile-based uncertainty quantification to construct time-varying Wasserstein ambiguity sets that adapt to forecast dispersion and distributional shifts. This yields a tractable DR-MPC formulation that incorporates predictive distribution information directly into real-time decision making. The method is evaluated using real weather and market data from a Nordic case study across two seasonal scenarios. The results show that DR-MPC improves economic performance relative to standard forecast-based MPC when the ambiguity radius is chosen appropriately, with consistent gains of up to 0.8% for small radii across both seasonal scenarios. Larger radii become overly conservative and reduce revenue, underscoring the importance of proper radius selection. These findings demonstrate the practical value of distributionally robust optimization for uncertainty-aware VPP operation.
title Distributionally Robust Model Predictive Control for Virtual Power Plants
topic Systems and Control
Optimization and Control
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.14642