Reliability Studies of Distribution Systems Integrated with Energy Storage

The integration of distributed generations (DGs) - renewable DGs, in particular- into distribution networks is gradually increasing, driven by environmental concerns and technological advancements. However, the intermittency and the variability of these resources adversely affect the optimal operation and reliability of the power distribution system. Energy storage systems (ESSs) are perceived as potential solutions to address system reliability issues and to enhance renewable energy utilization. The reliability contribution of the ESS depends on the ownership of these resources, market structure, and the regulatory framework. This along with the technical characteristics and the component unavailability of ESS significantly affect the reliability value of ESS to an active distribution system. It is, therefore, necessary to develop methodologies to conduct the reliability assessment of ESS integrated modern distribution systems incorporating above-mentioned factors. This thesis presents a novel reliability model of ESS that incorporates different scenarios of ownership, market/regulatory structures, and the ESS technical and failure characteristics. A new methodology to integrate the developed ESS reliability model with the intermittent DGs and the time-dependent loads is also presented. The reliability value of ESS in distribution grid capacity enhancement, effective utilization of renewable energy, mitigations of outages, and managing the financial risk of utilities under quality regulations are quantified. The methodologies introduced in this thesis will be useful to assess the market mechanism, policy and regulatory implications regarding ESS in future distribution system planning and operation. Another important aspect of a modern distribution system is the increased reliability needs of customers, especially with the growing use of sensitive process/equipment. The financial losses of customers due to industrial process disruption or malfunction of these equipment because of short duration (voltage sag and momentary interruption) and long duration (sustained interruption) reliability events could be substantial. It is, therefore, necessary to consider these short duration reliability events in the reliability studies. This thesis introduces a novel approach for the integrated modeling of the short and long duration reliability events caused by the random failures. Furthermore, the active management of distribution systems with ESS, DG, and microgrid has the potential to mitigate different reliability events. Appropriate models are needed to explore their contribution and to assist the utilities and system planners in reliability based system upgrades. New probabilistic models are developed in this thesis to assess the role of ESS together with DG and microgrid in mitigating the adverse impact of different reliability events. The developed methodologies can easily incorporate the complex protection settings, alternate supplies configurations, and the presence of distributed energy resources/microgrids in the context of modern distribution systems. The ongoing changes in modern distribution systems are creating an enormous paradigm shift in infrastructure planning, grid operations, utility business models, and regulatory policies. In this context, the proposed methodologies and the research findings presented in this thesis should be useful to devise the appropriate market mechanisms and regulatory policies and to carry out the system upgrades considering the reliability needs of customers in modern distribution systems

Performance Comparison of Grid-Faulty Control Schemes for Inverter-Based Industrial Microgrids

Several control schemes specifically designed to operate inverter-based industrial microgrids during voltage sags have been recently proposed. This paper first classifies these control schemes in three categories and then performs a comparative analysis of them. Representative control schemes of each category are selected, described and used to identify the main features and performance of the considered category. The comparison is based on the evaluation of several indexes, which measure the power quality of the installation and utility grid during voltage sags, including voltage regulation, reactive current injection and transient response. The paper includes selected simulation results from a 500 kVA industrial microgrid to validate the expected features of the considered control schemes. Finally, in view of the obtained results, the paper proposes an alternative solution to cope with voltage sags, which includes the use of a static compensator in parallel with the microgrid. The novelty of this proposal is the suitable selection of the control schemes for both the microgrid and the static compensator. The superior performance of the proposal is confirmed by the analysis of the quality indexes. Its practical limitations are also revealed, showing that the topic studied in this paper is still open for further research.This work has been supported by the European Union Project ELAC2014/ESE0034 and its linked National Projects PCIN-2015-001 (MINECO, Spain), 082-2015 (CONCYTEC, Peru), ERANETLAC/0005/2014 (FCT, Portugal), ERANETLAC/0006/2014 (FCT, Portugal) and 018/16 (MINCYT, Argentina).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Analysis of the dynamic power requirements for controllable energy storage on photovoltaic microgrid

A dissertation submitted to the Facaulty of Engineering and the Built Environment, University of the Witwatersrand in ful lment of the requirements of the degree of Master of science in Engineering September 2016Standalone microgrid studies are being done because an expansion of the existing utility grids to supply power to remote communities is not feasible. Standalone microgrids can be considered as one of the solutions for remote communities because power can be generated close to these communities and it minimizes cost related to power transmission. Renewable energy sources with large uctuations are frequently the source of power for these standalone microgrids. The uctuating nature of these renewable sources can often lead to frequent blackouts. This research is aimed at minimizing power uctuations using controllable energy storage systems. This MSc focuses on the analysis of the ramp rate and delay time requirements for controllable energy storage system used in standalone PV microgrids. Measured insolation data and recorded load demand data for typical domestic appliances are used in this study to analyze ramp rates present. The ramp rates are then used to determine the range of energy storage ramp rate and delay time required to maintain the microgrid voltage within the standardized range of 1pu 5%. From the recorded data it has been observed that PV power can be sampled from at least 1-second intervals without losing important information. The 1 second averaged ramp rates obtained from the insolation data measurements have been found to have the highest value of 0.12pu/sec. However, this ramp rate increases to 0.3pu/sec when the allowable microgrid voltage band is narrow (1pu 5%). These insolation ramp rates are very low compared to the ramp rates of typical loads that can be connected to a microgrid. This means that, if the energy storage system is speci ed to meet the load ramp rate requirements, it will be able to respond to the uctuating PV power. The results obtained from the simulations con rm that energy storage system ramp rate plays an important role in the stability of a standalone microgrid. The minimum allowable energy storage ramp rate was found to be 8.15pu/sec for load transients with a ramp time of 20ms. This value is 28 times the energy storage ramp rate required to cancel out insolation uctuations. This further con rms that energy storage system ramp rates must be speci ed using the load demand data. The maximum allowable delay time was also found to be 0.53s to maintain the microgrid voltage within the standardized range of 1pu 5%. This delay time is applicable when canceling out only the insolation uctuations. To cancel out load transient power uctuations, there should be no delay time.MT201

Electric Power Conversion and Micro-Grids

This edited volume is a collection of reviewed and relevant research chapters offering a comprehensive overview of recent achievements in the field of micro-grids and electric power conversion. The book comprises single chapters authored by various researchers and is edited by a group of experts in such research areas. All chapters are complete in themselves but united under a common research study topic. This publication aims at providing a thorough overview of the latest research efforts by international authors on electric power conversion, micro-grids, and their up-to-the-minute technological advances and opens new possible research paths for further novel developments

Output Impedance Diffusion into Lossy Power Lines

Output impedances are inherent elements of power sources in the electrical grids. In this paper, we give an answer to the following question: What is the effect of output impedances on the inductivity of the power network? To address this question, we propose a measure to evaluate the inductivity of a power grid, and we compute this measure for various types of output impedances. Following this computation, it turns out that network inductivity highly depends on the algebraic connectivity of the network. By exploiting the derived expressions of the proposed measure, one can tune the output impedances in order to enforce a desired level of inductivity on the power system. Furthermore, the results show that the more "connected" the network is, the more the output impedances diffuse into the network. Finally, using Kron reduction, we provide examples that demonstrate the utility and validity of the method