Improving the reliability of power distribution systems is critically important for both utilities and customers. This calls for an efficient service restoration module within a distribution management system to support the implementation of self-healing smart grid networks. The emerging smart grid technologies, including distributed generators (DGs) and remote-controlled switches, although enhance the self-healing capability and allow faster recovery, pose additional complexity to the service restoration problem, especially under cold load pickup (CLPU) conditions. In this paper, we propose a novel two-stage restoration framework to generate restoration solutions with a sequence of control actions. The first stage generates a restoration plan that supports both the traditional service restoration using feeder reconfiguration and the grid-forming DG-assisted intentional islanding methods. The second stage generates an optimal sequence of switching operations to bring the outaged system quickly to the final restored configuration. The problem is formulated as a mixed-integer linear program that incorporates system connectivity, operating constraints, and CLPU models. It is demonstrated using a multi-feeder test case that the proposed framework is effective in utilizing all available resources to quickly restore the service and generates an optimal sequence of switching actions to be used by the operator to reach the desired optimal configuration.
Distributed restoration can harness distributed energy resources (DER) to enhance the resilience of active distribution networks. However, the large number of decision variables, especially the binary decision variables of reconfiguration, bring challenges on developing effective distributed distribution service restoration (DDSR) strategies. This paper proposes a scalable distributed optimization method based on the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) for non-convex mixed-integer optimization problems and applies to develop the DDSR framework. The non-convex ADMM method consist…
This paper presents a load switching group based energy management system (LSG-EMS) for operating microgrids on a distribution feeder powered by one or multiple grid-forming distributed energy resources. Loads on a distribution feeder are divided into load switching groups that can be remotely switched on and off. The LSG-EMS algorithm, formulated as a mixed-integer linear programming (MILP) problem, has an objective function of maximizing the served loads while minimizing the total number of switching actions. A new set of topology constraints are developed for allowing multiple microgrids to…
In case of high impact low probability events, in order to restore the critical loads of the distribution network as much as possible, it is necessary to employ all available resources such as microgrids and distributed generations. This paper presents a two-stage method for critical load restoration after an extreme event utilizing the coordination of all available distributed generations, microgrids, and demand response programs. In the first stage, the post-disaster reconfiguration of the network is determined, and in the second stage, the demand response outputs of the responsive loads and…
This paper proposes a service restoration model for unbalanced distribution systems and inverter-dominated microgrids (MGs), in which frequency dynamics constraints are developed to optimize the amount of load restoration and guarantee the dynamic performance of system frequency response during the restoration process. After extreme events, the damaged distribution systems can be sectionalized into several isolated MGs to restore critical loads and tripped non-black start distributed generations (DGs) by black start DGs. However, the high penetration of inverter-based DGs reduces the system in…
Power system restoration is a highly complex task that must be performed in a timely manner following a blackout. It is crucial to have the capability of developing a reliable restoration plan that can be adjusted quickly to different system conditions. This paper introduces a framework of an automated process that creates a restoration plan for a given power system. The required input includes the original system data under normal operating conditions and the status of the resources in the system that can be used for restoration. With a set of criteria to select as an option, the presented pr…
A major outage in the electricity distribution system may affect the operation of water and natural gas supply systems, leading to an interruption of multiple services to critical customers. Therefore, enhancing resilience of critical infrastructures requires joint efforts of multiple sectors. In this paper, a distribution system service restoration method considering the electricity-water-gas interdependency is proposed. The objective is to provide electricity, water, and natural gas supplies to critical customers in the desired ratio according to their needs after an extreme event. The opera…
The frequency of extreme events (e.g., hurricanes, earthquakes, and floods) and man-made attacks (cyber and physical attacks) has increased dramatically in recent years. These events have severely impacted power systems ranging from long outage times to major equipment (e.g., substations, transmission lines, power plants, and distribution system) destruction. Distribution system failures and outages are major contributors to power supply interruptions. Network reconfiguration and movable energy resources (MERs) can play a vital role in supplying loads during and after contingencies. This paper…
Extreme weather events have a significant impact on the aging and outdated power distribution infrastructures. These high-impact low-probability (HILP) events often result in extended outages and loss of critical services, thus, severely affecting customers' safety. This calls for the need to ensure resilience in distribution networks by quickly restoring the critical services during a disaster. This paper presents an advanced feeder restoration method to restore critical loads using distributed energy resources (DERs). A resilient restoration approach is proposed that jointly maximizes the am…
As the society becomes more dependent on the presence of electricity, the resilience of the power systems gains more importance. This paper develops a decision support method for distribution system operators to restore electricity after an earthquake to the maximum number of customers in the minimum expected duration. The proposed method employs Markov Decision Process (MDP) to determine the optimal restoration scheme. In order to determine the probability of the field component damage due to the earthquake, the Probability of Failure ($P_f$) of structures are calculated using the Peak Ground…
Argonne National Laboratory(阿贡国家实验室);Iowa State University(爱荷华州立大学);University of Tennessee(田纳西大学)
Self-healing capability is one of the most critical factors for a resilient distribution system, which requires intelligent agents to automatically perform restorative actions online, including network reconfiguration and reactive power dispatch. These agents should be equipped with a predesigned decision policy to meet real-time requirements and handle highly complex $N-k$ scenarios. The disturbance randomness hampers the application of exploration-dominant algorithms like traditional reinforcement learning (RL), and the agent training problem under $N-k$ scenarios has not been thoroughly sol…
This paper presents a novel algorithm to optimize energy capacity restoration of vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs). VRFB technologies can have their lives prolonged through a partially restoration of the lost capacity by electrolyte rebalancing. Our algorithm finds the optimal number and time of these rebalancing services to minimize the service cost, while maximizing the revenues from energy arbitrage. We show that the linearized form of this problem can be analytically solved, and that the objective function is convex. To solve the complete problem, we develop a two-step mixed integer li…
Hydrogen electrolyzers, with their operational flexibility, can be configured as smart dynamic loads which can provide grid services and facilitate the integration of more renewable energy sources into the electrical grid. However, to enable this ability, the electrolyzer system should be able to control both active and reactive power in coordination with the low-level controller of the electrolyzer via the power electronics system interface between the utility grid and electrolyzer. This paper discusses power converter topologies and the control scheme of this power electronics interface for …
The optimal operation problem of electric vehicle aggregator (EVA) is considered. An EVA can participate in energy and regulation markets with its current and upcoming EVs, thus reducing its total cost of purchasing energy to fulfill EVs' charging requirements. An MPC based optimization model is developed to consider future arrival of EVs as well as energy and regulation prices. The index of CVaR is used to model risk-averseness of an EVA. Simulations on the 1000-EV test system validate the effectiveness of our work in achieving a lucrative revenue while satisfying the charging requests from E…
New forms of on-demand transportation such as ride-hailing and connected autonomous vehicles are proliferating, yet are a challenging use case for electric vehicles (EV). This paper explores the feasibility of using deep reinforcement learning (DRL) to optimize a driving and charging policy for a ride-hailing EV agent, with the goal of reducing costs and emissions while increasing transportation service provided. We introduce a data-driven simulation of a ride-hailing EV agent that provides transportation service and charges energy at congested charging infrastructure. We then formulate a test…
Electric power infrastructure has ignited several of the most destructive wildfires in recent history. Preemptive power shutoffs are an effective tool to mitigate the risk of ignitions from power lines, but at the same time can cause widespread power outages. This work proposes a mathematical optimization problem to help utilities decide where and when to implement these shutoffs, as well as how to most efficiently restore power once the wildfire risk is lower. Specifically, our model co-optimizes the power shutoff (considering both wildfire risk reduction and power outages) as well as the pos…
Traditional diesel-based airport service vehicles are characterized by a heavy-duty, high-usage-frequency nature and a high carbon intensity per vehicle per hour. Transforming these vehicles into electric vehicles would reduce CO2 emissions and potentially save energy costs in the context of rising fuel prices, if a proper energy management of airport service electric vehicles (ASEVs) is performed. To perform such an energy management, this paper proposes a new customized rollout approach, as a near-optimal control method for a new ASEV dynamics model, which models the ASEV states, their trans…
Operators who deploy large fleets of electric vehicles often face a challenging charge scheduling problem. Specifically, time-ineffective recharging operations limit the profitability of charging during service operations such that operators recharge vehicles off-duty at a central depot. Here, high investment cost and grid capacity limit available charging infrastructure such that operators need to schedule charging operations to keep the fleet operational. In this context, flexible service operations, i.e. allowing to delay or expedite vehicle departures, can potentially increase charger util…
The rapid development of renewable energy has increased the peak to valley difference of the netload, making the netload following being a new challenge to the power system. Electric boiler with thermal storage (EBTS) occupies a non-negligible part of the load in the winter season in Northern China. EBTS operation optimization can not only save its own energy cost but also reduce the peak shaving and valley filling pressure of the system. To this end, the operation optimization of EBTS for providing the power balancing service is studied in this paper, which mainly includes three parts: First,…
For critical infrastructure restoration planning, the real-time scheduling and coordination of system restoration efforts, the key in decision-making is to prioritize those critical components that are out of service during the restoration. For this purpose, there is a need for component importance analysis. While it has been investigated extensively for individual systems, component importance considering interdependence among transmission, distribution and communication (T&D&C) systems has not been systematically analyzed and widely adopted. In this study, we propose a component importance a…
Hybrid Optimization Method for Reconfiguration of AC/DC Microgrids in All-Electric Ships
Shanghai Jiao Tong University(上海交通大学);Collaborative Innovation Center for Advanced Ship and Deep-Sea Exploration(先进船舶与深海探测协同创新中心);Key Laboratory of System Control and Information Processing, Ministry of Education of China(教育部系统控制与信息处理重点实验室)
Electric power network expanded rapidly in recent decades due of the excessive need of electricity in every aspect of life, including critical infrastructures such as medical services, and transportation and communication systems. Natural disasters are one of the major reasons of electricity outage. It is extremely important to restore electrical energy in the shortest time possible after a disaster. This paper proposes a decision support method for electric system operators to restore electricity to the critical loads in a distribution system after an earthquake. The proposed method employs M…
As the proportion of variable inverter-based renewable energy generation in electricity systems increases from a minority to the majority of total supply, the complexity and cost of providing ancillary system services increases in parallel. Australia is experiencing this shift now - from having the third most carbon-intensive electricity sector in the world in 2010, to now having penetrations of variable renewable energy (VRE) regularly reaching 100 percent in some regions, with world-leading uptake of distributed energy resources (DER). This paper presents pioneering work exploring new techni…
In recent years, the market for frequency containment reserve (FCR) has become a relevant source of revenue for stationary battery storage systems in Germany. During this period, prices for FCR have decreased, while the market has become increasingly flexible with shorter service periods and lower minimum power requirements. This flexibility makes the market attractive for pools of electric vehicles (EVs). Their idle times are now often longer than FCR service periods, providing the opportunity to earn additional revenue. In this paper, multi-year measurement data from 22 commercial EVs are us…
A Resilience Evaluation Framework for Electric Distribution Systems: Historical Weather Conditioning, Sensitivity Analysis, and a Flooding-Aware Extension
Deploying real-time control on large-scale fleets of electric vehicles (EVs) is becoming pivotal as the share of EVs over internal combustion engine vehicles increases. In this paper, we present a Vehicle-to-Grid (V2G) algorithm to simultaneously schedule thousands of EVs charging and discharging operations, that can be used to provide ancillary services. To achieve scalability, the monolithic problem is decomposed using the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM). Furthermore, we propose a method to handle bilinear constraints of the original problem inside the ADMM iterations, whi…
This paper extends the research regarding the determination of the feasible operation region under the impact of electric vehicles. Thereby, the active and reactive power flexibility potentials of EV for alternating current and direct current bidirectional charging are limited in first instance by regulatory guidelines. In this paper German regulatory guidelines are applied to depicture the current state of the art for EV charging components. Under assumption of bidirectional charging for EV, the corresponding flexibility polygon in the PQ plane is derived. The impact on the FOR is then evalua…
Remote communities in Australia face unique mobility challenges that stand to be further complicated by the transition from Internal Combustion Engine (ICE) vehicles to Electric Vehicles (EVs). EVs offer a range of advantages that include lower maintenance requirements and independence from costly, dangerous and polluting petroleum imports that have long been burdensome for remote communities. Yet the adoption of electric vehicles in Australia has been slow by international standards, and what policy strategies do exist tend to focus on incentivizing uptake among urban residents with the means…
Coordinating the charging scheduling of electric vehicles for dynamic dial-a-ride services is challenging considering charging queuing delays and stochastic customer demand. We propose a new two-stage solution approach to handle dynamic vehicle charging scheduling to minimize the costs of daily charging operations of the fleet. The approach comprises two components: daily vehicle charging scheduling and online vehicle-charger assignment. A new battery charge scheduling model is proposed to obtain the vehicle charging schedules by minimizing the costs of vehicle daily charging operations while …
In this paper a new aggregated model for electric vehicle (EV) fleets is presented that considers their daily and weekly usage patterns. A frequency-constrained stochastic unit commitment model is employed to optimally schedule EV charging and discharging as well as the provision of frequency response (FR) in an electricity system, while respecting the vehicles' energy requirements and driving schedules. Through case studies we demonstrate that an EV with vehicle to grid (V2G) capability can reduce system costs in a future GB electricity grid by up to £12,000 per year, and reduce CO2 emissions…
Electric vehicles (EVs) equipped with a bidirectional charger can provide valuable grid services as mobile energy storage. However, proper financial incentives need to be in place to enlist EV drivers to provide services to the grid. In this paper, we consider two types of EV drivers who may be willing to provide mobile storage service using their EVs: commuters taking a fixed route, and on-demand EV drivers who receive incentives from a transportation network company (TNC) and are willing to take any route. We model the behavior of each type of driver using game theoretic methods, and charact…