Bridging the Flexibility Concepts in the Buildings and Multi-energy Domains

paper aims to stimulate a discussion on how to create a bridge between the concept of flexibility used in power and energy systems and the flexibility that buildings can offer for providing services to the electrical system. The paper recalls the main concepts and approaches considered in the power systems and multi-energy systems, and summarises some aspects of flexibility in buildings. The overview shows that there is room to strengthen the contacts among the scientists operating in these fields. The common aim is to identify the complementary aspects and provide inputs to enhance the methodologies and models to enable and support an effective energy and ecologic transition

Categorisation of Ancillary Services for Providers

The focus of the work presented here is to raise awareness of how ancillary services within the NordPool area could be of value in supporting the future grid, and who could be the provider of these services. The ancillary services considered here are not limited to the current market, but also services for future market solutions as well as services for fulfilment of grid codes. The goal is to promote the development of existing and novel solutions to increase the utilisation and thus the value of equipment within the power system. The paper includes a techno-economical categorisation of ancillary services, from a provider\u27s perspective, presenting opportunities and competition. Furthermore, procurers of services could utilise this kind of categorisation to identify possible providers or partners. The analysis of the categorisation shows a broad range of possible providers for each service and a broad range of possible services from each provider

The Next-Generation Retail Electricity Market in the Context of Distributed Energy Resources: Vision and Integrating Framework

The increasing adoption of distributed energy resources (DERs) and smart grid technologies (SGTs) by end-user retail customers is changing significantly both technical and economic operations in the distribution grid. The next-generation retail electricity market will promote decentralization, efficiency, and competitiveness by accommodating existing and new agents through new business models and transactive approaches in an advanced metering infrastructure (AMI). However, these changes will bring several technical challenges to be addressed in transmission and distribution systems. Considerable activities have been carried out worldwide to study the impacts of integrating DERs into the grid and in the wholesale electricity market. However, the big vision and framework of the next-generation retail market in the context of DERs is still unclear. This paper aims to present a brief review of the present retail electricity market, some recent developments, and a comprehensive vision of the next-generation retail electricity market by describing its expected characteristics, challenges, needs, and future research topics to be addressed. A framework of integrating retail and wholesale electricity markets is also presented and discussed. The proposed vision and framework particularly highlight the necessity of new business models and regulatory initiatives to establish decentralized markets for DERs at the retail level as well as advances in technology and infrastructure necessary to allow the widespread use of DERs in active and effective ways

Technologies and Magnitude of Ancillary Services Provided by Commercial Buildings

Commercial buildings increasingly include technologies capable of providing ancillary services to electric power grids. Features include thermal energy storage inherent in building structures that can be coupled to electric grids through heating, ventilating, and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems controlled by variable-speed drives (VSDs). In parking garages, plug-in electric vehicles (PEVs) are connected to the building power lines through charging stations and can be utilized as grid storage. System power electronics can control equipment power demand at frequencies associated with ancillary services procured in electricity markets, where services dispatch over time scales ranging from hours to seconds. Limitations in provision of services by buildings include building-scale thermal and electrical energy storage capacities: thermal comfort of occupants, state of charge of PEV batteries, and the power rating of VSDs and PEV chargers. This paper reviews available technologies and necessary control strategies for HVAC systems in commercial buildings to provide ancillary services. We then develop physically-based scaling metrics for building thermal storage technologies accessible through HVAC systems. In addition, the effect of ancillary services provided by HVAC systems on grid network and electricity market operations is analyzed using simulation case studies, incorporating magnitude scaling of services. We finally evaluate a possibility that the HVAC systems and PEVs provide three-phase voltage and power balance regulation services, respectively.1164sciescopu