Abstract
A revised method for a robust optimal design one based on the minimax regret criterion is proposed. Based on the robust optimal design method, equipment capacities of energy supply system are determined efficiently so that they are robust economically against the uncertainty in energy demands. Equipment efficiently so that they are robust economically against the uncertainty in energy demands. Equipment capacities and utility contract demands as well as energy flow rates are determined to minimize the maximum regret in the annual total cost and to satisfy all the possible energy demands. This optimization problem is formulated as a kind of multilevel linear programming, and its solution is obtained by repeatedly evaluating lower and upper bounds for the maximum regret in the annual total cost. The revise is performed using dual problem and bilinear programming to efficiently evaluate the upper bound. Numerical studies on cogeneration systems are carried out to ascertain the validity and effectiveness of the proposed method.
