The continuously growing distributed generation and the business potential for demand response are gradually enabling significant provision of flexibility and reserve towards distribution networks. For this reason, transmission and distribution system operators need to coordinate their operation in order to develop efficient market arrangements that can help utilize all the resources capable of providing ancillary services. SmartNet project investigated the potential interaction schemes between network operators, together with the possible new services devoted to the optimal distribution grid management. This paper summarizes the main challenges in simulating complex electricity systems and flexibility markets for three European countries (Italy, Denmark and Spain) in 2030 scenarios. The simulation results are then analyzed using cost-benefit analysis and regulatory conclusions are deduced.
The electricity system is subject to continuous evolution stimulated by the integration of renewable energy sources. This transformation is having deep impacts on the planning and operation of networks and new potential roles of system operators are currently investigated. In particular, having assumed a future in which the energy demand is largely satisfied by distributed generation, it can be reasonably expected that distribution networks will be soon enabled to offer balancing and regulation services to the market. In this scenario, the distribution operator may aggregate all the local dispatchable resources and, from their combination, a single capability can be obtained to represent the flexibility limits of the entire network. This study presents few simple and intuitive methods for a fast and accurate construction of this equivalent capability.
The integration of generation units in distribution grids is one of the main research topics in the field of smart grids. Governments are supporting the connection of small/medium size generators directly to the distribution network, but the consequent growing number of energy producers poses several technical issues. For the planning and operation of a distribution network it is then important to estimate the maximum installable generation according to the limits imposed by the power quality standards. In the recent years, several methods for the evaluation of the Hosting Capacity (HC) has been proposed and designed in order to take into account different aspects related to the reliable operation of the network. However, many methods are not taking into account the effects of the grid allocation of distributed generation and, especially, the unknown position of it before the power plants realization. The paper describes a novel solution to compute the HC on the basis of the risk of network congestion. In addition to the classical voltage and current constraints, the proposed approach also integrates the stochastic allocation of distributed generation and separately evaluates their impact on the HC value.
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