Demand response approaches in a research project versus a real business

© 2023 Elsevier. This manuscript version is made available under the CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 license http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/Demand response through Demand Aggregation is part of the energy transition towards a green and distributed system. Although the market is open in most European countries, its practical implementation is not much successful yet. In the last decade, research presented different options to deal with demand response and aggregation. This paper compares the benefits and limitations of strategies implemented from a research perspective and the strategy followed by a recently created company to see which of the advances in research are currently useful from a business perspective. The study presents a novel decision matrix to evaluate demand response strategies. Results show that there are technical limitations in current Energy Management Systems that need to be taken into account when developing demand aggregation platforms. In addition, the study highlights the importance to propose a simple and scalable solution to allow consumers to participate actively in electricity markets and create a success business model.This research has been supported by the research and innovation programme Horizon 2020 of the European Union under the grant agreement nr. 731211 SABINA. C. Corchero work is supported by the grant IJCI-2015-26650 (MICINN). All researchers have been partially supported by the Generalitat de Catalunya, Spain (2017 SGR 1219). L. Canals Casals thanks the national project IAQ4EDU (PID2020-117366RB-100) for giving the opportunity to continue his work in this field.Peer ReviewedObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::7 - Energia Assequible i No ContaminantPostprint (published version

Electromechanical modelling and control of a micro-wind generation system for isolated low power DC micro grids

This paper describes the modelling and control of a micro-wind generation system, based on an axial flux permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG), for isolated low power DC micro grids. The system consists of a micro-wind turbine including a furling tail, a PMSG, a three phase diode rectifier and a buck converter connected to a battery bank and a load. Furthermore, it incorporates a control system to extract the maximum power output from the wind turbine using the minimum possible number of sensors. The system is simulated in Matlab/Simulink to analyze the dynamical response and it is compared with the current IT-PE-100.Postprint (published version

Modelització i control d'un sistema de generació eòlica amb generador síncron d'imants permanents per sistemes elèctrics aïllats

En aquest projecte es realitza una anàlisi dels sistemes de generació eòlica amb generadors síncrons d'imants permanents per a sistemes elèctrics aïllats. Això mateix, es desenvolupa la modelització del sistema, el qual es composa d'una turbina eòlica, una transmissió mecànica, un generador síncron d'imants permanents, un rectificador, un convertidor DC/DC de tipus buck, una bateria i una càrrega. El projecte inclou el disseny d'un sistema de control pel convertidor DC/DC, de manera que tingui la doble funcionalitat de controlar la velocitat de gir de la turbina per aconseguir extreure la màxima potència del vent i que alhora carregui la bateria adequadament. Finalment, s'ha realitzat una comparació entre els resultats obtinguts a la simulació i la experimentació amb un muntatge on s'ha utilitzat un motor d'inducció de gàbia d'esquirol controlat mitjançant un variador de freqüència per emular el vent, i això estudiar la resposta del generador síncron

Estudi d'aerogeneradors de baixa potència per electrificació rural

Postprint (published version

Estudi d'aerogeneradors de baixa potència per electrificació rural

Postprint (published version

Modelització i control d'un sistema de generació eòlica amb generador síncron d'imants permanents per sistemes elèctrics aïllats

En aquest projecte es realitza una anàlisi dels sistemes de generació eòlica amb generadors síncrons d'imants permanents per a sistemes elèctrics aïllats. Això mateix, es desenvolupa la modelització del sistema, el qual es composa d'una turbina eòlica, una transmissió mecànica, un generador síncron d'imants permanents, un rectificador, un convertidor DC/DC de tipus buck, una bateria i una càrrega. El projecte inclou el disseny d'un sistema de control pel convertidor DC/DC, de manera que tingui la doble funcionalitat de controlar la velocitat de gir de la turbina per aconseguir extreure la màxima potència del vent i que alhora carregui la bateria adequadament. Finalment, s'ha realitzat una comparació entre els resultats obtinguts a la simulació i la experimentació amb un muntatge on s'ha utilitzat un motor d'inducció de gàbia d'esquirol controlat mitjançant un variador de freqüència per emular el vent, i això estudiar la resposta del generador síncron

Development of a platform for the assessment of demand-side flexibility in a microgrid laboratory

Demand-side flexibility has gained attention as a powerful tool to increase the flexibility of the electricity system and counteract the uncertainties caused by the increase of Renewable Energy Sources. Up to date, few markets allow the participation of Demand Aggregators, which are key to make use of the flexibility of small consumers. Therefore, research surrounding demand aggregation is in many cases limited to simulations or resource consuming pilot programs. This project integrates a microgrid laboratory with a commercial aggregation platform in order to set up and configure the necessary tools to operate the laboratory as a platform to test flexibility. The flexibility platform defined in this work offers a customizable and controllable environment for Demand Response and aggregation testing, while providing a realistic assessment due to the consideration of a commercial aggregator and the use of real and emulated devices. As a first application of the platform, two customer types have been defined and tested: a residential one with a Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning Unit and a prosumer owning a second-life Electric Vehicle battery in a solar Photovoltaic self- consumption system. The scenarios have shown how, for defined users, the interaction with the aggregator can be beneficial for all sides, as long as proper activations and incentives are defined for the customers. Through future applications of the platform, new use cases can be covered and used to gather valuable information for the aggregator or any interested stakeholder.Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

Electromechanical modelling and control of a micro-wind generation system for isolated low power DC micro grids

This paper describes the modelling and control of a micro-wind generation system, based on an axial flux permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG), for isolated low power DC micro grids. The system consists of a micro-wind turbine including a furling tail, a PMSG, a three phase diode rectifier and a buck converter connected to a battery bank and a load. Furthermore, it incorporates a control system to extract the maximum power output from the wind turbine using the minimum possible number of sensors. The system is simulated in Matlab/Simulink to analyze the dynamical response and it is compared with the current IT-PE-100

Adaptive Volt-Var Control Algorithm to Grid Strength and PV Inverter Characteristics

The high-penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) in low voltage distribution grids, mainly photovoltaics (PV), might lead to overvoltage in the point of common coupling, thus, limiting the entrance of renewable sources to fulfill the requirements from the network operator. Volt-var is a common control function for DER power converters that is used to enhance the stability and reliability of the voltage in the distribution system. In this study, a centralized algorithm provides local volt-var control parameters to each PV inverter, which are based on the electrical grid characteristics. Because accurate information of grid characteristics is typically not available, the parametrization of the electrical grid is done using a local power meter data and a voltage sensitivity matrix. The algorithm has different optimization modes that take into account the minimization of voltage deviation and line current. To validate the effectiveness of the algorithm and its deployment in a real infrastructure, the solution has been tested in an experimental setup with PV emulators under laboratory conditions. The volt-var control algorithm successfully adapted its parameters based on grid topology and PV inverter characteristics, achieving a voltage reduction of up to 25% of the allowed voltage deviation.Peer ReviewedObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::7 - Energia Assequible i No ContaminantObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::7 - Energia Assequible i No Contaminant::7.2 - Per a 2030, augmentar substancialment el percentatge d’energia renovable en el con­junt de fonts d’energiaObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::11 - Ciutats i Comunitats SosteniblesObjectius de Desenvolupament Sostenible::11 - Ciutats i Comunitats Sostenibles::11.6 - Per a 2030, reduir l’impacte ambiental negatiu per capita de les ciutats, amb especial atenció a la qualitat de l’aire, així com a la gestió dels residus municipals i d’altre tipusPostprint (published version

Electromechanical modelling and control of a micro-wind generation system for isolated low power DC micro grids

This paper describes the modelling and control of a micro-wind generation system, based on an axial flux permanent magnet synchronous generator (PMSG), for isolated low power DC micro grids. The system consists of a micro-wind turbine including a furling tail, a PMSG, a three phase diode rectifier and a buck converter connected to a battery bank and a load. Furthermore, it incorporates a control system to extract the maximum power output from the wind turbine using the minimum possible number of sensors. The system is simulated in Matlab/Simulink to analyze the dynamical response and it is compared with the current IT-PE-100