With increasingly favorable economics and bundling of different grid services, energy storage systems (ESS) are expected to play a key role in integrating renewable generation. This work considers the coordination of ESS owned by customers located at different buses of a distribution grid. Customers participate in frequency regulation and experience energy prices that increase with the total demand. Charging decisions are coupled across time due to battery dynamics, as well as across network nodes due to competitive pricing and voltage regulation constraints. Maximizing the per-user economic benefit while maintaining voltage magnitudes within allowable limits is posed here as a network-constrained game. It is analytically shown that a generalized Nash equilibrium exists and can be expressed as the minimizer of a convex yet infinite-time horizon aggregate optimization problem. To obtain a practical solution, a Lyapunov optimization approach is adopted to design a real-time scheme offering feasible charging decisions with performance guarantees. The proposed method improves over the standard Lyapunov technique via a novel weighting of user costs. By judiciously exploiting the physical grid response, a distributed implementation of the real-time solver is also designed. The features of the novel algorithmic designs are validated using numerical tests on realistic datasets.
There is a growing interest in the use of largescale battery storage systems for grid services. This technology has been deployed in several countries to increase transmission systems capabilities and reliability. In particular, large-scale battery storage systems could be used for congestion management and the French Transmission System Operator (RTE) is currently installing 3 large batteries for 2020 at the sub-transmission grid level for this purpose. The battery operation for congestion management does not require the full storage capacities at all times. Thus, the residual capacities can …
This paper considers the dynamic economic dispatch problem for a group of distributed energy resources (DERs) with storage that communicate over a weight-balanced strongly connected digraph. The objective is to collectively meet a certain load profile over a finite time horizon while minimizing the aggregate cost. At each time slot, each DER decides on the amount of generated power, the amount sent to/drawn from the storage unit, and the amount injected into the grid to satisfy the load. Additional constraints include bounds on the amount of generated power, ramp constraints on the difference …
We discuss how multi-grid computing schemes can be used to design hierarchical coordination architectures for energy systems. These hierarchical architectures can be used to manage multiple temporal and spatial scales and mitigate fundamental limitations of centralized and decentralized architectures. We present the basic elements of a multi-grid scheme, which includes a smoothing operator (a high-resolution decentralized coordination layer that targets phenomena at high frequencies) and a coarsening operator (a low-resolution centralized coordination layer that targets phenomena at low freque…
The paper deals with the optimal sizing and allocation of dispersed generation, and distributed storage systems. The optimization aims at minimizing the sum of the costs sustained by the distributor for the power losses, for network upgrading, for carrying out the reactive power service and the costs of storage and capacitor installation, over a planning period of several years. Also, analysis of the effect of distributed generation capacity and location on voltage stability enhancement of distribution networks are presented in this paper. The analysis is performed using a steady state voltage…
This paper studies the feasibility of integrating a community energy storage (CES) system with rooftop photovoltaic (PV) power generation for demand-side management of a neighbourhood while maintaining the distribution network voltages within allowed limits. To this end, we develop a decentralized energy trading system between a CES provider and users with rooftop PV systems. By leveraging a linearized branch flow model for radial distribution networks, a voltage-constrained leader-follower Stackelberg game is developed wherein the CES provider maximizes revenue and the users minimize their pe…
In the field of microgrids with a significant integration of Renewable Energy Sources, the efficient and practical power storage systems requirement is causing DC microgrids to gain increasing attention. However, uncertainties in power generation and load consumption along with the fluctuations of electricity prices require the design of a reliable control architecture and a robust energy management system for enhancing the power quality and its sustainability, while minimizing the associated costs. This paper presents a mixed approach illustrating both simulation and experimental results of a…
Energy storage can be used for many applications in the Smart Grid such as energy arbitrage, peak demand shaving, power factor correction, energy backup to name a few, and can play a major role at increasing the capacity of power networks to host renewable energy sources. Often, storage control algorithms will need to be \textit{tailored} according to power networks billing structure, reliability restrictions, and other local power networks norms. In this paper we explore residential energy storage applications in Uruguay, one of the global leaders in renewable energies, where new low-voltage …
We propose a generic multistage stochastic model for the Alternating Current Optimal Power Flow (AC OPF) problem for radial distribution networks, to account for the random electricity production of renewable energy sources and dynamic constraints of storage systems. We consider single-phase radial networks. Radial three-phase balanced networks (medium-voltage distribution networks typically have this structure) reduce to the former case. This induces a large scale optimization problem, which, given the non-convex nature of the AC OPF, is generally challenging to solve to global optimality. We…
In this paper, we consider the day-ahead operational planning problem of a radial distribution network hosting Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) including rooftop solar and storage-like loads, such as electric vehicles. We present a novel decomposition method that is based on a centralized AC Optimal Power Flow (AC OPF) problem interacting iteratively with self-dispatching DER problems adapting to real and reactive power Distribution Locational Marginal Costs. We illustrate the applicability and tractability of the proposed method on an actual distribution feeder, while modeling the full com…
Frequency response and voltage support are vital ancillary services for power grids. In this paper, we design and experimentally validate a real-time control framework for battery energy storage systems (BESSs) to provide ancillary services to power grids. The objective of the control system is to utilize the full capability of the BESSs to provide ancillary services. We take the voltage-dependent capability curve of the DC-AC converter and the security requirements of BESSs as constraints of the control system. The initial power set-points are obtained based on the droop control approach. To …
Smart inverters have been advocated as a fast-responding mechanism for voltage regulation in distribution grids. Nevertheless, optimal inverter coordination can be computationally demanding, and preset local control rules are known to be subpar. Leveraging tools from machine learning, the design of customized inverter control rules is posed here as a multi-task learning problem. Each inverter control rule is modeled as a possibly nonlinear function of local and/or remote control inputs. Given the electric coupling, the function outputs interact to yield the feeder voltage profile. Using an app…
This paper addresses the problem of how best to coordinate, or `stack,' energy storage services in systems that lack centralized markets. Specifically, its focus is on how to coordinate transmission-level congestion relief with local, distribution-level objectives. We describe and demonstrate a unified communication and optimization framework for performing this coordination. The congestion relief problem formulation employs a weighted $\ell_{1}$-norm objective. This approach determines a set of corrective actions, i.e., energy storage injections and conventional generation adjustments, that m…
This paper addresses the problem of voltage regulation in a power distribution grid using the reactive power injections of grid-connected power inverters. We first discuss how purely local voltage control schemes cannot regulate the voltages within a desired range under all circumstances and may even yield detrimental control decisions. Communication and, through that, coordination are therefore needed. On the other hand, short-range peer-to-peer communication and knowledge of electric distances between neighbouring controllers are sufficient for this task. We implement such a peer-to-peer con…
With Europe dedicated to limiting climate change and greenhouse gas emissions, large shares of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) are being integrated in the national grids, phasing out conventional generation. The new challenges arising from the energy transition will require a better coordination between neighboring system operators to maintain system security. To this end, this paper studies the benefit of exchanging primary frequency reserves between asynchronous areas using the Supplementary Power Control (SPC) functionality of High-Voltage Direct-Current (HVDC) lines. First, we focus on the …
In order to improve the penetration of renewable energy resources for distribution networks, a joint planning model of distributed generations (DGs) and energy storage is proposed for an active distribution network by using a bi-level programming approach in this paper. In this model, the upper-level aims to seek the optimal location and capacity of DGs and energy storage, while the lower-level optimizes the operation of energy storage devices. To solve this model, an improved binary particle swarm optimization (IBPSO) algorithm based on chaos optimization is developed, and the optimal joint p…
Ad-hoc growth of single-phase-connected distributed energy resources, such as solar generation and electric vehicles, can lead to network unbalance with negative consequences on the quality and efficiency of electricity supply. Case-studies are presented for a substation in Madeira, Portugal and an EV charging facility in Pasadena, California. These case studies show that phase imbalance can happen due to a large amount of distributed generation (DG) and electric vehicle (EV) integration. We conducted stylized load-flow analysis on a radial distribution network using an openDSS-based simulator…
