Energy storage systems for smart meter privacy: a study of public perceptions

Smart meters are a vital step for transitioning to a smart grid architecture. Studies have shown that it is possible to extract appliance usage information through non-intrusive load monitoring methods. This data can be used by third-parties for unwanted activities like targeted marketing, home invasion, etc. It is postulated that the data leakage will be minimum when the power flow from/to the grid is piecewise linear. To achieve linearity, the use of energy storage systems is investigated. Energy storage systems (ESS) are being increasingly used by customers having solar energy production. In this project, an algorithm for the energy management unit (EMU) to control the ESS is proposed which maintains piecewise linearity. Two types of users are considered for the study: 1. user who injects excess energy to the grid 2. user who does not (or is not allowed by law) to inject power to the grid. The effect of the algorithm on both users is studied. The minimum capacity of ESS for data leakage prevention is analysed for both cases. Data from four different households is used in different combinations to obtain the mean capacity required. Using this data, an equation is formulated for the minimum capacity of ESS required to maintain linearity in power flows. The second part of the study is to understand how people perceive smart meter privacy issues and how much they are willing to spend for mitigating privacy breaches. The survey is done in Sweden. Sweden was the first European country to have 100% smart meter roll-out. In 2020, the smart meters installed during the first roll-out will reach their economic lifespan. Hence, the country is preparing for a second-generation mass roll-out of smart meters. The perception of people regarding smart meters is identified from two perspectives. First, the consumers are directly surveyed for estimating their awareness of smart meter privacy problems and their willingness to invest in technologies that prevent such issues. Second, different stakeholders in smart metering are surveyed regarding their experience during first and second roll-out. The methods currently employed to safeguard consumer data is also explored during the second survey

Recommendations for consumer-centric products and efficient market design

Flexibility involves the adjustment of energy consumption or generation schedules to benefit the grid, for instance, providing services such as balancing, congestion management, and voltage control. Flexibility can be offered at different grid levels by flexibility service providers (FSPs) through market mechanisms. This study, produced in the context of the Horizon 2020 OneNet project, evaluates various TSO-DSO coordinated flexibility market models. In this assessment, the study considers factors like economic efficiency, consumer-centricity, existence of entry barriers, and value-stacking potential. The analysis highlights the importance of interface flow pricing and FSPs' bidding behaviour. The creation of local market layers can reduce entry barriers but may lead to market fragmentation. The study also explores bid forwarding mechanisms and methods to ensure grid safety. Overall, the work offers valuable insights for designing efficient and coordinated flexibility markets in Europe.This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 957739

Electricity Market Design 2030-2050: Shaping Future Electricity Markets for a Climate-Neutral Europe

Speeding up the energy transition in the European Union (EU) is a major task to quickly reduce harmful greenhouse gas emissions. Market design plays a crucial role in the decarbonization of the European energy system, driving the expansion of both Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and accompanying flexibility sources. In particular, demand flexibility by energy-intensive industrial companies can play a key role. By flexibilizing their production processes, industrial companies can contribute to an increased use of variable RES (in the following referred to as Variable Renewable Energy (VRE)) to lower the CO2 footprint of their products with positive effects on economic competitiveness. Together with other flexibility sources like electric vehicles, the EU can transition to a just, low-carbon society and economy with benefits for all. However, to actually realize these benefits, market design must account for the changing production and consumption characteristics, e.g., the intermittency of VRE. Starting with current challenges of the energy transition that need to be solved with a future market designin the EU, the whitepaper takes alternative market design options and recent technological developments into account, which are highly intertwined. The whitepaper elaborates on the role of, for instance, flexibility, digital technologies, market design with locational incentives, and possible transition pathways in a European context. The “Clean energy for all Europeans” package offers a new opportunity to deepen the integration of different national electricity systems, whereby Transmission System Operators (TSOs) are required to reserve at least 70% of transmission capacities for cross-border trades from 2025 onwards. The corresponding scarcity of transmission capacities on the national level, however, may aggravate congestion to a critical extent, calling for transformational changes in market design involving, e.g., a redefinition of bidding zones close to the network-node level. The present whitepaper can be seen as part of a series of whitepapers on electricity market design 2030 - 2050 [14, 15] and continues the analysis of regionally differentiated prices or Locational Marginal Pricing (LMP) as a means to address congestion problems in future VRE-based electricity systems. Thereby, the whitepaper extends the findings of the previous two whitepapers (where in the latter whitepapers, e.g., a detailed discussion of the pros and cons of LMP can be found) and elaborates on the question how LMP could be implemented in one or several European countries and how possible implementation pathways may look like in a coupled European system. Moreover, the whitepaper describes preparatory steps that are necessary for the introduction of LMP, and – at the same time – create advantages for countries under both, a nodal and zonal market design. All in all, the results and outcomes of the whitepaper shall support the market design transition in Europe and, thus, the integration and activation of flexibility potentials to foster a fast reduction of CO2 emissions through a better use of VRE. Therefore, the whitepaper contributes with concrete policy measures to the overarching vision of a future European electricity market design that bases on low-carbon technologies and enhances welfare and fairness, while ensuring economic competitiveness of Europe. We would like to thank all the partners and are grateful for the financial support from the Federal Ministry of Education and Research as well as the Project Management Jülich. Martin Bichler, Hans Ulrich Buhl, and Martin Weibelzahl (SynErgie) Antonello Monti (OneNet

Energy storage systems for smart meter privacy: a study of public perceptions

Smart meters are a vital step for transitioning to a smart grid architecture. Studies have shown that it is possible to extract appliance usage information through non-intrusive load monitoring methods. This data can be used by third-parties for unwanted activities like targeted marketing, home invasion, etc. It is postulated that the data leakage will be minimum when the power flow from/to the grid is piecewise linear. To achieve linearity, the use of energy storage systems is investigated. Energy storage systems (ESS) are being increasingly used by customers having solar energy production. In this project, an algorithm for the energy management unit (EMU) to control the ESS is proposed which maintains piecewise linearity. Two types of users are considered for the study: 1. user who injects excess energy to the grid 2. user who does not (or is not allowed by law) to inject power to the grid. The effect of the algorithm on both users is studied. The minimum capacity of ESS for data leakage prevention is analysed for both cases. Data from four different households is used in different combinations to obtain the mean capacity required. Using this data, an equation is formulated for the minimum capacity of ESS required to maintain linearity in power flows. The second part of the study is to understand how people perceive smart meter privacy issues and how much they are willing to spend for mitigating privacy breaches. The survey is done in Sweden. Sweden was the first European country to have 100% smart meter roll-out. In 2020, the smart meters installed during the first roll-out will reach their economic lifespan. Hence, the country is preparing for a second-generation mass roll-out of smart meters. The perception of people regarding smart meters is identified from two perspectives. First, the consumers are directly surveyed for estimating their awareness of smart meter privacy problems and their willingness to invest in technologies that prevent such issues. Second, different stakeholders in smart metering are surveyed regarding their experience during first and second roll-out. The methods currently employed to safeguard consumer data is also explored during the second survey

The Devil in the details: The factors determining the selection of intrazonal congestion management methods across Europe

The European electricity market is becoming increasingly interconnected, raising questions about how intrazonal congestion management, typically governed by national regulations, interacts with the coupled cross-zonal markets. A major concern is the lack of information regarding intrazonal congestion management methods. This paper addresses this issue by examining different ways in which European transmission system operators (TSOs) use third-party resources to manage congestion in short-term electricity markets. We create a decision-tree-based classification to represent all identified congestion management methods and select three cases for comprehensive evaluation using predefined assessment criteria. While doing so, we identify a trade-off between efficiency and ease of implementation. The balance between these two factors is determined by the severity of the congestion. In a severely congested grid, locational signals are critical, requiring a better alignment between the network representation in the market clearing and the physical network constraints. When the congestion is less severe, TSOs can choose other congestion management methods based on factors such as the predictability of congestion and resource availability. These findings shed light on the complexities of congestion management in an integrated European market and can inform future policy decisions

Solar Simulator for Indoor Characterization of Hybrid CPV/Flat-Plate Modules

The hybrid modules developed by a Swiss startup, Insolight, consist of a micro-concentrator photovoltaic (micro- CPV) sub-module mounted on a non-concentrator Si backplane. Embedding the micro-CPV cells on top of the flat plate module complements the high efficiency of the CPV with the geographic versatility of the Si cells. Characterization of such modules should be adapted for the requirements and challenges posed by the component submodules. The top CPV layer utilizes the direct component of the incident radiation and the bottom Si layer utilizes the diffuse component. Therefore, it is necessary to test the modules under two lighting conditions. This paper demonstrates a novel solar simulator design for the indoor characterization of hybrid modules based on the collimated-light solar simulator for CPV modules developed by the Instituto de Energía Solar-UPM. The new simulator design adds provisions for testing Silicon submodules under uniform diffuse light by incorporating diffusive elements in the collimated-light path and reducing stray light. The existing CPV simulator at UPM has been refurbished to test the new design concepts. The I-V curve of a hybrid module has been characterized indoors using several configurations and compared to reference measurements obtained outdoors in order to optimize and validate the new setup

Mental health problems among health-care workers during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction: As the pandemic of COVID-19 stretches, its wings across the different parts of the world over the past few months, it is very likely that mental health problems increase, particularly among the health-care workers who have higher risk of exposure to the disease and also to sufferings of the people affected with the disease. Objective: To assess the prevalence and factors associated with depression, anxiety, and stress among health-care workers from Kerala during the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional study among 544 health-care workers from Kerala was conducted by a self-administered online questionnaire in Google Forms by chain referral sampling with Depression, Anxiety, and Stress Scale-21 scale during initial phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. The tests of significance used were Mann–Whitney U-tests and Kruskal–Wallis tests. Odds ratios and 95% confidence interval are estimated. Results: During the early pandemic period, 9.7% of health-care workers had mild depression and 13.3% had moderate-to-severe depression. While 4% had mild anxiety and 3.5% had moderate-to-severe anxiety, about 6.8% had mild stress and 6.4% had moderate-to-severe stress. The anxiety symptoms were significantly higher among nurses compared to doctors. Emotional and social support from higher health authorities is a significant protective factor against stress and depression. Frontline workers have 84% higher risk to have depression. Conclusions: Frontline health-care workers who are directly involved in the screening, diagnosis, treatment, and care for patients with COVID-19 are at higher risk of experiencing poor mental health outcomes. Emotional and social support from higher health authorities is a significant protective factor against depression and stress among health-care workers

3rd National Conference on Image Processing, Computing, Communication, Networking and Data Analytics

This volume contains contributed articles presented in the conference NCICCNDA 2018, organized by the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, GSSS Institute of Engineering and Technology for Women, Mysore, Karnataka (India) on 28th April 2018