Ant colony system-based applications to electrical distribution system optimization

Chapter 16, February 201

Distributed multi-generation systems: energy models and analyses

Libro riguardante la caratterizzazione di sistemi per la produzione combinata di energia da sistemi di multi-generazione distribuita (Distributed Multi-Generation, DMG). Il libro tratta componenti, schemi e modelli di sistemi di multi-generazione distribuita, illustra concetti derivanti da proposte originali degli autori in merito all'analisi e alla pianificazione dei sistemi, con i corrispondenti indicatori energetici e ambientali approccio formulati secondo un approccio unificato. Numerosi esempi applicativi inclusi nel libro riguardano in particolare sistemi di cogenerazione e trigenerazion

Data Consistency for Data-Driven Smart Energy Assessment

In the smart grid era, the number of data available for different applications has increased considerably. However, data could not perfectly represent the phenomenon or process under analysis, so their usability requires a preliminary validation carried out by experts of the specific domain. The process of data gathering and transmission over the communication channels has to be verified to ensure that data are provided in a useful format, and that no external effect has impacted on the correct data to be received. Consistency of the data coming from different sources (in terms of timings and data resolution) has to be ensured and managed appropriately. Suitable procedures are needed for transforming data into knowledge in an effective way. This contribution addresses the previous aspects by highlighting a number of potential issues and the solutions in place in different power and energy system, including the generation, grid and user sides. Recent references, as well as selected historical references, are listed to support the illustration of the conceptual aspects

Review of Clustering Methods for Slow Coherency-Based Generator Grouping

Slow coherency is one of the most relevant concepts used in power systems dynamics to group generators that exhibit similar response to disturbances. Among the approaches developed for generator grouping based on slow coherency, clustering algorithms play a significant role. This paper reviews the clustering algorithms applied in model-based and data-driven approaches, highlighting the metrics used, the feature selection, the types of algorithms and the comparison among the results obtained considering simulated or measured data

Challenges for a transition towards the smart grids

The recent evolution of the power and energy systems has been driven by a number of factors concerning network modernisation, energy efficiency improvements, growing attention to the environmental and social impact, higher diffusion of renewable energy generation, as well as guaranteeing system security and enabling new services and consumer participation. This paper presents an overview on the key challenges for the future energy systems, that will have to face with the energy trilemma including environmental and social sustainability, energy security and energy equity. The impact of the use of electricity in the energy systems is growing, calling for the assessment of future scenarios to understand the possibility of occurrence of critical conditions. The technical analyses can be supported by the definition of appropriate indicators, some of which are recalled in this paper. Emergent issues like transportation system electrification and system resilience have to be addressed in a holistic way. The various aspects of energy transition and energy integration require more interdisciplinary analyses merging competences from the technical, economic, and sociological fields

New insights for setting up contractual options for demand side flexibility

This paper exploits the Duration-of-Use of the demand patterns as a key concept for dealing with demand side flexibility. Starting from the consideration that fine-grained energy metering is not used at the point of supply of the electricity consumers, i.e., the granularity of the energy measured (at time steps of 15 minutes, 30 minutes or one hour) is not sufficient to represent the variability of the demand patterns, event-based energy metering (EDM) is indicated as a viable option to provide a very detailed reconstruction of the demand patterns. In particular, the use of EDM enables high-quality tracking of the demand peaks with a reduced number of data with respect to the ones needed to measure energy at regular time steps for reaching a similar peak tracking capability. From the EDM outcomes, a new class of options for setting up tariffs or contracts for flexibility, based on the demand duration curve, is envisioned

New insights for setting up contractual options for demand side flexibility

This paper exploits the Duration-of-Use of the demand patterns as a key concept for dealing with demand side flexibility. Starting from the consideration that fine-grained energy metering is not used at the point of supply of the electricity consumers, i.e., the granularity of the energy measured (at time steps of 15 minutes, 30 minutes or one hour), the event-based energy metering (EDM) is indicated as a viable option to provides a very detailed reconstruction of the demand patterns. The use of EDM enables high-quality tracking of the demand peaks with a reduced number of data with respect to the ones needed to measure energy at regular time steps for reaching a similar peak tracking capability. From the EDM outcomes, a new class of options for setting up tariffs or contracts for flexibility, based on the demand duration curve, is envisioned

Metaheuristic optimization of power and energy systems: underlying principles and main issues of the 'rush to heuristics'

In the power and energy systems area, a progressive increase of literature contributions containing applications of metaheuristic algorithms is occurring. In many cases, these applications are merely aimed at proposing the testing of an existing metaheuristic algorithm on a specific problem, claiming that the proposed method is better than other methods based on weak comparisons. This 'rush to heuristics' does not happen in the evolutionary computation domain, where the rules for setting up rigorous comparisons are stricter, but are typical of the domains of application of the metaheuristics. This paper considers the applications to power and energy systems, and aims at providing a comprehensive view of the main issues concerning the use of metaheuristics for global optimization problems. A set of underlying principles that characterize the metaheuristic algorithms is presented. The customization of metaheuristic algorithms to fit the constraints of specific problems is discussed. Some weaknesses and pitfalls found in literature contributions are identified, and specific guidelines are provided on how to prepare sound contributions on the application of metaheuristic algorithms to specific problems