Optimising consumer energy resources

Managing the low voltage distribution network with a high penetration of consumer energy resources (CERs) is a major challenge, writes Alex Beveridge, Area Vice President for Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Islands, Itron.

In Australia, about one in three homes have rooftop solar systems and that will steadily increase to one in two homes by 2040. Traditional demand response solutions have focused on aggregating perhaps tens of thousands of controllable resources into so-called ‘virtual power plants’ for commodity trading and limiting peak demand events.

However, this model does not address many of the challenges posed by widespread adoption of millions of CERs. With solar occupying 11% of peak demand, the lack of visibility and control of CERs in the low voltage network is already causing low voltage stability issues for Australian utilities.

Replacing a few large power plants on the transmission network with millions of CERs in the distribution network is nothing short of a paradigm shift for the energy industry. Significant solar generation capacity causes multi-directional power flows, frequency management and other challenges historically confined to the high voltage grid, where operators have real-time visibility and control.

By contrast, today that visibility in the low voltage network is far from real-time and control will need to be achieved through a host of new market participants and processes that are not fully defined.

First, we must accept that low voltage networks must be managed. For decades, distribution operators have simply built capacity to satisfy expected demand. To maintain stability in the low voltage network of the future, a host of market participants will need to orchestrate the balancing of controllable loads and storage to match local generation and line capacity.

Distribution system operators will need to:

• Register and track the available capacity of CERs and large loads within their network, as well as the financial market responsibilities.
• Consolidate data from multiple sources including ADMS, GIS, IEEE 2030.5 CSIP-AUS inverters and smart meters to provide the most accurate measured view of the low-voltage network state in near real-time.
• Use fault tolerant forecasting, advanced algorithms and modelling techniques to predict the state of unmeasured points, forecast constraints and calculate Dynamic Operating Envelopes (DOEs) in real time from five minutes to multiple days in the future.
• Dispatch signals through market mechanisms like DOEs, network support service procurements or directly to aggregators and inverters through IEEE 2030-5 CSIP-AUS so that CERs can be optimised on market price or customer preference basis.
• Enable local control of CERs and service entrance switches to allow for emergency control, balance and participation on ancillary services markets.

Itron’s Low-Voltage Distributed Energy Resource Management System (LV DERMS) is meticulously engineered to meet the specific requirements of the Australian market by offering robust solutions tailored to the needs of Australian DSOs. When integrated with existing systems like ADMS, GIS and AMI, LV DERMS helps transform the planning and operating risks caused by CERs into opportunities.

LV DERMS augments the existing utility landscape by focusing on the low voltage network to provide increased visibility, better understanding of capacity constraints and dispatch control signals through a variety of market mechanisms.

Website: https://aunz.itron.com/en/lvderms

You might be interested in:
Distribution Transformer Awareness
Detecting waveform anomalies to maintain grid stability

About the author

About Itron

Itron is a proven global leader in energy, water, smart city, IIoT and intelligent infrastructure services. For utilities, cities and society, we build innovative systems, create new efficiencies, connect communities, encourage conservation and increase resourcefulness. By safeguarding our invaluable natural resources today and tomorrow, we improve the quality of life for people around the world. Join us: www.itron.com.