Benefits of demands control in a smart-grid to compensate the volatility of non-conventional energies

Abstract

Uruguay is a leader in the usage of renewable energies, getting 96% of its electricity from an assorted assemble of such sources with an increasing percentage of nonconventional energies, of wind power mostly. As clean and financially stable as they are, non-conventional energies have weaknesses. Unlike thermic and most hydro-sources, wind and solar energies are not controllable, are intermittent and uncertain some hours ahead, complicating the short-term operation and maintenance of electrical systems. This work explores how to use smart-grids capabilities to adjust electricity demand as a hedge against novel short-position risks in the Uruguayan electricity market coming from the volatility of non-conventional renewables. This approach uses combinatorial optimization dispatch models to quantitatively assess benefits resulting from having demand control. Results show that for the Uruguayan context, the benefits are not only due to savings in production costs (generation). Smart-grid optimal dispatch-schedules are also less stressing regarding the operation of the grid itself.

Determination of photovoltaic power by modeling solar radiation with Gamma distribution in the CEDER microgrid

“…The first, distributed energy resources (DER), includes different aspects such as generation, storage, and demand response; an interesting case study of the latter aspect is discussed in [3]. On the other hand, the new paradigms and the latest developments in the electricity sector are based on the introduction of distributed generation (DG), which is a philosophy where energy is not produced exclusively in large centralized plants, if not also in smaller locations taking advantage of local conditions in order to minimize transmission/distribution losses, as well as optimizing production and consumption.…”