Economic Advantages of Office Buildings Providing Ancillary Services with Intraday Participation

Controlling the consumption profile of office buildings can be used to provide balancing services to the power grid at a financial benefit without violating its thermal comfort constraints. The economic advantage of such a service is a reduction in the total operating cost, but also an increase in average occupants’ comfort when using our control scheme. We study these effects for the case of participating in the secondary frequency control market of Switzerland. Moreover, we examine the advantages of engaging in the intraday energy market. We propose a method for solving the flexibility bidding problem for a building in order to partake in the ancillary services market. The proposed solution is based on the combination of a new intraday control policy and two-stage stochastic programming. We also study the sensitivity of this economic benefit to electricity pricing. Our findings are based on extensive simulations with real data for energy prices, ancillary service bids, meteorological records and the frequency control signals for the year 2014 as transmitted by Swissgrid

Predictive Control of Buildings for Demand Response and Ancillary Services Provision

This thesis develops optimization based techniques for the control of building heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems for the provision of demand response and ancillary services to the electric grid. The first part of the thesis focuses on the development of the open source MATLAB toolbox OpenBuild, developed for modeling of buildings for control applications. The toolbox constructs a first-principles based model of the building thermodynamics using EnergyPlus model data. It also generates the disturbance data affecting the models and allows one to simulate various usage scenarios and building types. It enables co-simulation between MATLAB and EnergyPlus, facilitating model validation and controller testing. OpenBuild streamlines the design and deployment of predictive controllers for control applications. The second part of the thesis introduces the concept of buildings acting as virtual storages in the electric grid and providing ancillary services. The control problem (for the bidding phase) to characterize the flexibility of a building, while also participating in the intraday energy market is formulated as a multi-stage uncertain optimization problem. An approximate solution method based on a novel intraday control policy and two-stage stochastic programming is developed to solve the bidding problem. A closed loop control algorithm based on a stochastic MPC controller is developed for the online operation phase. The proposed control method is used to carry out an extensive simulation study using real data to investigate the financial benefits of office buildings providing secondary frequency control services to the grid in Switzerland. The technical feasibility of buildings providing a secondary frequency control service to the grid is also demonstrated in experiments using the experimental platform (LADR) developed in the Automatic Control Laboratory of EPFL. The experimental results validate the effectiveness of the proposed control method. The third part of the thesis develops a hierarchical method for the control of building HVAC systems for providing ancillary services to the grid. Three control layers are proposed: The local building controllers at the lowest level track the temperature set points received from the thermal flexibility controller that maximizes the flexibility of a buildingâs thermal consumption. At the highest level, the electrical flexibility controller controls the HVAC system while maximizing the flexibility provided to the grid. The two flexibility control layers are based on robust optimization methods. A control-oriented model of a typical air-based HVAC system with a thermal storage tank is developed and the efficacy of the proposed control scheme is demonstrated in simulations

Decision support for participation in electricity markets considering the transaction of services and electricity at the local level

[EN] The growing concerns regarding the lack of fossil fuels, their costs, and their impact on the environment have led governmental institutions to launch energy policies that promote the increasing installation of technologies that use renewable energy sources to generate energy. The increasing penetration of renewable energy sources brings a great fluctuation on the generation side, which strongly affects the power and energy system management. The control of this system is moving from hierarchical and central to a smart and distributed approach. The system operators are nowadays starting to consider the final end users (consumers and prosumers) as a part of the solution in power system operation activities. In this sense, the end-users are changing their behavior from passive to active players. The role of aggregators is essential in order to empower the end-users, also contributing to those behavior changes. Although in several countries aggregators are legally recognized as an entity of the power and energy system, its role being mainly centered on representing end-users in wholesale market participation. This work contributes to the advancement of the state-of-the-art with models that enable the active involvement of the end-users in electricity markets in order to become key participants in the management of power and energy systems. Aggregators are expected to play an essential role in these models, making the connection between the residential end-users, electricity markets, and network operators. Thus, this work focuses on providing solutions to a wide variety of challenges faced by aggregators. The main results of this work include the developed models to enable consumers and prosumers participation in electricity markets and power and energy systems management. The proposed decision support models consider demand-side management applications, local electricity market models, electricity portfolio management, and local ancillary services. The proposed models are validated through case studies based on real data. The used scenarios allow a comprehensive validation of the models from different perspectives, namely end-users, aggregators, and network operators. The considered case studies were carefully selected to demonstrate the characteristics of each model, and to demonstrate how each of them contributes to answering the research questions defined to this work.[ES] La creciente preocupación por la escasez de combustibles fósiles, sus costos y su impacto en el medio ambiente ha llevado a las instituciones gubernamentales a lanzar políticas energéticas que promuevan la creciente instalación de tecnologías que utilizan fuentes de energía renovables para generar energía. La creciente penetración de las fuentes de energía renovable trae consigo una gran fluctuación en el lado de la generación, lo que afecta fuertemente la gestión del sistema de potencia y energía. El control de este sistema está pasando de un enfoque jerárquico y central a un enfoque inteligente y distribuido. Actualmente, los operadores del sistema están comenzando a considerar a los usuarios finales (consumidores y prosumidores) como parte de la solución en las actividades de operación del sistema eléctrico. En este sentido, los usuarios finales están cambiando su comportamiento de jugadores pasivos a jugadores activos. El papel de los agregadores es esencial para empoderar a los usuarios finales, contribuyendo también a esos cambios de comportamiento. Aunque en varios países los agregadores están legalmente reconocidos como una entidad del sistema eléctrico y energético, su papel se centra principalmente en representar a los usuarios finales en la participación del mercado mayorista. Este trabajo contribuye al avance del estado del arte con modelos que permiten la participación activa de los usuarios finales en los mercados eléctricos para convertirse en participantes clave en la gestión de los sistemas de potencia y energía. Se espera que los agregadores desempeñen un papel esencial en estos modelos, haciendo la conexión entre los usuarios finales residenciales, los mercados de electricidad y los operadores de red. Por lo tanto, este trabajo se enfoca en brindar soluciones a una amplia variedad de desafíos que enfrentan los agregadores. Los principales resultados de este trabajo incluyen los modelos desarrollados para permitir la participación de los consumidores y prosumidores en los mercados eléctricos y la gestión de los sistemas de potencia y energía. Los modelos de soporte de decisiones propuestos consideran aplicaciones de gestión del lado de la demanda, modelos de mercado eléctrico local, gestión de cartera de electricidad y servicios auxiliares locales. Los modelos propuestos son validan mediante estudios de casos basados en datos reales. Los escenarios utilizados permiten una validación integral de los modelos desde diferentes perspectivas, a saber, usuarios finales, agregadores y operadores de red. Los casos de estudio considerados fueron cuidadosamente seleccionados para demostrar las características de cada modelo y demostrar cómo cada uno de ellos contribuye a responder las preguntas de investigación definidas para este trabajo

Forbrukerfleksibilitet i kraftmarkeder

Demand flexibility integration is an important measure for the decarbonization of energy systems and a more efficient use of resources. Demand flexibility can provide multiple benefits to the power system and reduce system costs. Adjusting electricity demand to match variable production supports the integration of larger shares of variable renewable energy (VRE). Using demand response for system services provided by network operators can contribute to a more cost-efficient use of infrastructure and resources. Demand flexibility is a large and complex field of study which includes different markets, different grid voltage levels and different actors. The aim of this PhD project is to study how demand flexibility can be optimally integrated into electricity markets, taking account of the benefits to the power system as a whole and the interplay between different markets. Demand flexibility is studied from the perspective of the whole system, as well as from the private economic perspective of aggregators and electricity consumers. The thesis includes separate studies which go in depth about specific topics. The whole system perspective is studied in Paper I, which focuses on the value of demand flexibility in spot and reserve markets in power systems with high shares of VRE. The perspective of TSO and DSO is studied in Paper II, which proposes a marketplace for procurement of transmission and distribution system services from demand flexibility. The perspective of demand flexibility aggregator is studied in Paper III which develops an optimization framework for an aggregator participating in the wholesale and the regulation capacity markets. The perspective of private electricity consumers is studied in Paper IV which studies price-based demand response and investments in load control in an energy system. The results of these studies offer various useful insights. Firstly, demand flexibility was found to significantly decrease the system cost when large shares of VRE are integrated into the system. This happens primarily by replacing reserve provision from coal and gas plants but also by reducing peak load generation due to price response on the wholesale market. Optimal allocation of demand flexibility between reserve and wholesale markets maximizes the system benefits. The results suggest that in systems with large shares of VRE and small shares of base load, more demand flexibility should be placed in the reserve market than in the wholesale power market. Demand flexibility also benefits the distribution system, and it was also found that new market designs and better coordination between the transmission and distribution levels are important for efficiently integrating demand flexibility and minimizing the total procurement costs. New market designs can ensure that demand flexibility is used to maximize the value for the whole system and not only for single actors. Next, the results of the studies illustrate that demand flexibility access to many markets is beneficial, from both the system and private economic perspectives. It increases the value of demand flexibility, gives incentives to aggregators’ business and ensures that demand flexibility is optimally allocated between markets based on price. However, market interplay can also have negative effects, as when demand flexibility providers favour one particular market with higher profitability and flee from other markets. New market designs for demand flexibility should consider the interplay between different markets. Finally, modelling demand response to electricity price shows that private investments in demand flexibility are governed by the cost of load control, the daily electricity price variability and the price flattening effect. The price flattening effect implies that demand response to price reduces price volatility in the market, and at some point, no more demand response is feasible. To achieve this optimal demand response level in the wholesale market, it is important to have correct feedback between the market and consumers so that they do not respond more is optimal from the system perspective. To sum up, the results of this PhD research suggest that efficient integration of demand flexibility into electricity markets implies giving it access to many markets, strengthening the role of aggregators, improving coordination between the distribution and transmission system levels and promoting market designs that optimize demand flexibility use and system value. This thesis illustrates the importance of studying demand response in a holistic perspective, including different markets, actors and system levels.Norwegian Research Council ; Enfo ; Sysco ; NV

Implementing energy transition and SDGs targets throughout energy community schemes

Citizens are expected to play a great role in the future global energy transition, being able to give a decisive contribution to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and avoid the worst consequences. Empowering citizens is crucial and assigning them the role of prosumers in the new energy market is necessary to ensure a sustainable and fair pathway to the low-carbon energy transition. Creating energy communities (ECs) can also engage citizens by providing flexibility and ancillary services, reducing losses and curtailments in the grid. It also yields environmental and social benefits, activating virtuous circles in the local economy aligned with the SDGs of Agenda 2030. We illustrate the experience of an EC implementation, using GECO-Green Energy COmmunity project, as a case study. In particular, the in-depth qualitative analysis of the project from a social and technical perspective is provided. The GECO Project is active in the districts of Pilastro and Roveri, Bologna, Italy, being implemented by a consortium including the Energy and Sustainable Development Agency (AESS), the National Agency for New Technologies, Energy and Sustainable Economic Development (ENEA) and the University of Bologna (UniBo). Our findings show the potential interconnections among the development of an ECs and SDGs, especially goals 7, 11, 12 and 13. Placing ECs and prosumers at the centre of the international debate may deliver a more sustainable paradigm in the energy sector, in line with the climate change needs and community approaches

Demand Response in Energy Communities Considering the Share of Photovoltaic Generation from Public Buildings

This paper has as ambit to promote the importance of the prosumer and the sustainable development of a community's energy systems through the aid of the incorporation of renewable energy sources in the market and the concept demand response. Moreover, it is intended to efficiently use the energy surplus produced by the photovoltaic panels of the prosumers for self-consumption, distributed by the remaining members of the community. It is estimated that participants, through the energy management of the community, will be able to verify reductions in electricity bills, as well as be compensated for their contribution to demand response through remuneration. Thus, the proposed methodology contributes in an efficient and sustainable way to be implemented in a community, promoting the use of renewable energy.This work has received funding from the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under project DOMINOES (grant agreement No 771066) and from FEDER Funds through COMPETE program and from National Funds through FCT under the project UID/EEA/00760/2019.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio