Characterization of new flexible players: Deliverable D3.2

Project TradeRES - New Markets Design & Models for 100% Renewable Power Systems: https://traderes.eu/about/ABSTRACT: The subject matter of this report is the analysis of the electricity markets’ actors’ scene, through the identification of actor classes and the characterisation of actors from a behavioural and an operational perspective. The technoeconomic characterization of market participants aims to support the upcoming model enhancements by aligning the agent-based model improvements with the modern market design challenges and the contemporary characteristics of players. This work has been conducted in the context of task T3.2, which focuses on the factorization of the distinctive operational and behavioural characteristics of players in market structures. Traditional parties have been considered together with new and emerging roles, while special focus has been given on new actors related to flexible technologies and demand-side response. Among the main objectives have been the characterization of individual behaviours, objectives and requirements of different electricity market players, considering both the traditional entities and the new distributed ones, and the detailed representation of the new actors.N/

Towards transactive energy systems: An analysis on current trends

This paper presents a comprehensive analysis on the latest advances in transactive energy systems. The main contribution of this work is centered on the definition of transactive energy concepts and how such systems can be implemented in the smart grid paradigm. The analyzed works have been categorized into three lines of research: (i) transactive network management; (ii) transactive control; and (iii) peer-to-peer markets. It has been found that most of the current approaches for transactive energy are available as a model, lacking the real implementation to have a complete validation. For that purpose, both scientific and practical aspects of transactive energy should be studied in parallel, implementing adequate simulation platforms and tools to scrutiny the results.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

End-User Flexibility in the Local Electricity Grid – Blurring the Vertical Separation of Market and Monopoly?

In the Norwegian electricity system, new consumption patterns and changing load profiles increase an already apparent need for reinvestment in the aging network infrastructure. This is very costly, and network operators consider alternative ways of increasing capacity, which are less costly and more flexible. One such option is end-user flexibility. In the paper, we give an overview of the Norwegian electricity market and regulation and the potential of end-user flexibility. We present an investment case provided by a network company, which illustrates that the choice of compensation method to customers have a large impact on the cost and/or revenue cap in the regulatory model. By issuing direct payments for flexibility services, end-user flexibility results in a lower efficiency, although the revenue cap may be higher, while redistribution of network tariffs have a marginal effect on efficiency and the revenue cap. Through redistribution of network tariffs, the network operator can defer investments without a notable change in the revenue cap or change in efficiency. This highlights some of the future challenges that the regulator faces in setting a regulatory framework for end-user flexibility and it challenges the vertical separation that has been a corner stone in the deregulated electricity market

On an Information and Control Architecture for Future Electric Energy Systems

This paper presents considerations towards an information and control architecture for future electric energy systems driven by massive changes resulting from the societal goals of decarbonization and electrification. This paper describes the new requirements and challenges of an extended information and control architecture that need to be addressed for continued reliable delivery of electricity. It identifies several new actionable information and control loops, along with their spatial and temporal scales of operation, which can together meet the needs of future grids and enable deep decarbonization of the electricity sector. The present architecture of electric power grids designed in a different era is thereby extensible to allow the incorporation of increased renewables and other emerging electric loads.Comment: This paper is accepted, to appear in the Proceedings of the IEE

A novel complex system approach for the determination of renewable energy sources impact on electricity infrastructures

The increasing environmental awareness, associated with the increasing demand and price of fossil fuels, is leading to the implementation of novel energy models based on renewable energy sources (RES) and sustainable mobility. However, the actual physical and economic models on which power system management rules are based on, are not able to properly manage the high amount of unwanted power fluctuations introduced by RES power generation. For such reason, major issues has been pointed out in term of energy security and access, inspiring changes in methods and paradigms associated to energy supply management. Moreover, the transaction towards an emission free mobility must be based on the interaction between RES generation and Electric Vehicles (EV) mobility, pointing out the need of a new approach able to combine mobility and energy supply infrastructures. In order to describe and model power systems with an high amount of RES generation, is important to indicate that such systems are made by a great number of microscopical interacting elements which behave in a stochastic way. For this reason, these systems can not easily be described in a deterministic way, but must be described by a statistical representation of the system observables. In this thesis, a novel approach based on statistical mechanics methods is presented, able to model the impact of such sources over the system. By using such approach, has been possible to evaluate the possible impact of such sources in terms of power system stability and sustainable mobility

Towards Smarter Electric Vehicle Charging with Low Carbon Smart Grids: Pricing and Control.

Environmental and political directions indicate transition to a decarbonized transportation system is necessary as it is one of the most pollutant sectors regarding greenhouse gas emissions. Research in Demand Side Management suggests that its tools are the most cost-effective option for improving the performance of the grid without incurring into high infrastructure investments, hence reducing the payback for start-ups in the sector. This Thesis proposes solutions to tackle 5 objectives around this area of research: 1-2 are related to developing a demand response pricing and EV smart charging strategies, 3-4 are related to developing a multi-objective charging scheme in order to ensure fairness and reduction of CO2eq emissions, and 5 is related to testing parameters of EV charging to understand future improvements and limitations in the proposed models. Chapter 3, that tackles objectives 1-2, proposes a data-driven optimisation algorithm with pricing and control modules that communicate with each other to achieve a successful integration with the grid by charging at the right price and expected time. The results show customers can be positively engaged with pricing signals while providing support to the grid. Chapter 4, which tackles objectives 3-4, proposes a multi-objective EV charging formulation that include perspectives of EV users, a carbon regulator and a charging station operator. The multi-objective formulation is solved with a genetic algorithm in order to find the fairest and the greenest solution. Results which are evaluated using different scenarios show different weights to each objective function can differ based on the charging location and EV charging availability. Finally, Chapter 5 which tackles objective 5, shows a sensitivity analysis where improvements in revenues, reduction of carbon emissions and bidding capacity depend on the evaluation of EV users’ parameters, and the charging station control and sizing

Architecture of Smart Grid Testing Platform and Integration of MultiPower Laboratory

Traditional electrical grids are shifting towards Smart Grids that could deliver electricity in sustainable, economic and secure way. Simultaneously, characteristics of electrical grids are becoming much more complex that require development of several Smart Grid functionalities. This thesis studies architecture modeling of Smart Grid Testing Platform (SGTP) and integration of MultiPower laboratory. The architecture was defined in collaboration with research project team in a project called “Integrated business platform of distributed energy resources” (HEILA). Furthermore, the main goals are to produce an architecture model, which promotes specific Smart Grid related use cases, and interconnect the MultiPower laboratory with the platform. This thesis is divided into two parts. Firstly, background, challenges with Smart Grids, the HEILA project and MultiPower laboratory are introduced. Then, Smart Grid Architecture Model (SGAM) Framework, tools and related architecture definitions in different projects are studied. In addition, information models defined by IEC 61850 standard and Common Information Model (CIM), Smart API, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP) and MQ Telemetry Transport (MQTT) protocols are studied because of their central role in the architecture model and integration. Secondly, results are presented with descriptions of the architecture model and integration process. The architecture model presents how different actors cooperate in order to offer and use flexibility related services on distribution level. The architecture model increases level of details, adds functionalities and changes some of the protocols used when compared to the related architectures. Additionally, self-descriptive and more flexible messaging are introduced as messages contain semantic information and they are not bound to any specific format. The function positioning with two-way communications promotes decentralized data acquisition and control. Generally, that may ease market integration, privacy, autonomy and scalability issues. As a result, the architecture may promote development and utilization of different kind of flexibility related services and products. However, information objects should be added to the standard mapping on information layer of the model since it would increase level of details. The integration was successful since monitoring and controlling of the MultiPower equipment is possible with current version of the SGTP as tests demonstrate. Technical requirements in the use cases were fulfilled. In future research work in the HEILA project message encryption, validation and CIM utilization should be considered. Moreover, Energy Management System (EMS) and equipment that is more suitable for routine testing should be considered for the MultiPower