Real-time and day-ahead risk averse multi-objective operational scheduling of virtual power plant using modified Harris Hawk's optimization

•A compilation of diverse range of resources i.e., PV, wind, fuel cell, CHP is selected to make the VPP system more flexible and robust to perform smooth functioning.•Single objective optimized scheduling is performed separately from both economic as well as environmental point of view in which enhancement in total profit is achieved followed by a reduction in generated emission and a separate framework for multi-objective scheduling is established for the selected problem formulation.•Storage options are provided to ensure the continuity of uninterrupted power supply 24 × 7 and risk management concept is introduced in the selected problem formulation.•Numerical analysis for day ahead scheduling is listed and compared with the already published results. 5 min interval scheduling is also carried out for the first time which is corelated with the proposed work.•Modified nature inspired metaheuristic technique is employed to solve the intended objective function and the quality solution sets are obtained after repeated trials which are compared with recently published work.