Demand Response Driven Load Scheduling in Formal Smart Grid Framework

In this technical report, we present the current state of the research conducted during the first part of the PhD project named “Demand Response Driven Load Scheduling in Formal Smart Grid Framework”. The PhD project focuses on smart grids which employ information and communication technologies to assist the electricity production, distribution, and consumption. Designing smart grid applications is a novel challenging task that requires modeling, integrating, and validating different grid aspects in an efficient way. The project tackles such challenges by proposing an effective framework to formally describe smart grid elements along with their interactions. To validate this framework, the report concentrates on deploying efficiency in managing the electricity consumption in households which requires focusing on different impacts of demand response programs running in the smart grid to engage consumers to participate. A demand response system is considered which is connected to all households and utilizes their information to determine an effective load management strategy taking into account the grid constraints imposed by distribution system operators. The main responsibility of the demand response system is scheduling the operation of appliances of a large number of consumers in order to achieve a network-wide optimized performance. Finally, the PhD report demonstrates the simulation results, publications, courses, and dissemination activities done during this period. They are followed by envisaging future plans that will lead to completion of the PhD study

SALSA: A Formal Hierarchical Optimization Framework for Smart Grid

The smart grid, by the integration of advanced control and optimization technologies, provides the traditional grid with an indisputable opportunity to deliver and utilize the electricity more efficiently. Building smart grid applications is a challenging task, which requires a formal modeling, integration, and validation framework for various smart grid domains. The design flow of such applications must adapt to the grid requirements and ensure the security of supply and demand. This dissertation, by proposing a formal framework for customers and operations domains in the smart grid, aims at delivering a smooth way for: i) formalizing their interactions and functionalities, ii) upgrading their components independently, and iii) evaluating their performance quantitatively and qualitatively.The framework follows an event-driven demand response program taking no historical data and forecasting service into account. A scalable neighborhood of prosumers (inside the customers domain), which are equipped with smart appliances, photovoltaics, and battery energy storage systems, are considered. They individually schedule their appliances and sell/purchase their surplus/demand to/from the grid with the purposes of maximizing their comfort and profit at each instant of time. To orchestrate such trade relations, a bilateral multi-issue negotiation approach between a virtual power plant (on behalf of prosumers) and an aggregator (inside the operations domain) in a non-cooperative environment is employed. The aggregator, with the objectives of maximizing its profit and minimizing the grid purchase, intends to match prosumers' supply with demand. As a result, this framework particularly addresses the challenges of: i) scalable and hierarchical load demand scheduling, and ii) the match between the large penetration of renewable energy sources being produced and consumed. It is comprised of two generic multi-objective mixed integer nonlinear programming models for prosumers and the aggregator. These models support different scheduling mechanisms and electricity consumption threshold policies.The effectiveness of the framework is evaluated through various case studies based on economic and environmental assessment metrics. An interactive web service for the framework has also been developed and demonstrated

Characterizing the energy flexibility of buildings and districts

The large penetration rate of renewable energy sources leads to challenges in planning and controlling the energy production, transmission, and distribution in power systems. A potential solution is found in a paradigm shift from traditional supply control to demand control. To address such changes, a first step lays in a formal and robust characterization of the energy flexibility on the demand side. The most common way to characterize the energy flexibility is by considering it as a static function at every time instant. The validity of this approach is questionable because energy-based systems are never at steady-state. Therefore, in this paper, a novel methodology to characterize the energy flexibility as a dynamic function is proposed, which is titled as the Flexibility Function. The Flexibility Function brings new possibilities for enabling the grid operators or other operators to control the demand through the use of penalty signals (e.g., price, CO2, etc.). For instance, CO2-based controllers can be used to accelerate the transition to a fossil-free society. Contrary to previous static approaches to quantify Energy Flexibility, the dynamic nature of the Flexibility Function enables a Flexibility Index, which describes to which extent a building is able to respond to the grid’s need for flexibility. In order to validate the proposed methodologies, a case study is presented, demonstrating how different Flexibility Functions enable the utilization of the flexibility in different types of buildings, which are integrated with renewable energies

Validating coordination schemes between transmission and distribution system operators using a laboratory-based approach

The secure operation of future power systems will rely on better coordination between transmission system and distribution system operators. Increasing integration of renewables throughout the whole system is challenging the traditional operation. To tackle this problem, the SmartNet project proposes and evaluates five different coordination schemes between system operators using three benchmark scenarios from Denmark, Italy, and Spain. In the project, field tests in each of the benchmark countries are complemented with a number of laboratory validation tests, to cover scenarios that cannot be tested in field trials. This paper presents the outcome of these laboratory tests. Three tests are shown, focusing on controller validation, analysis of communication impacts, and how well price-based controls can integrate with the SmartNet coordination schemes. The results demonstrate important indications for the field tests and also show some of the limitations with the current implementations of the coordinations schemes.Comment: 2019 IEEE PowerTech Mila