Design of Local Services Markets for Pricing DSO-TSO Procurement Coordination

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) as a distributed energy resource represent a key opportunity to achieve emission reductions worldwide, although their large uncoordinated deployment could congest distribution networks generating load profiles leading to system failures. Flexible management systems to coordinate strategies between agents at different levels require high volumes of decentralized information exchanged to improve network assets utilisation and operational costs reduction. Incumbent technologies such as Smart Contracts (SCs) from Distributed Ledger Technologies (DLT) would enable these coordination approaches with near real-time resolution. Therefore, this study aims to evaluate and propose flexible charging strategies for high penetration levels of electric vehicles and renewable energies on already congested distribution networks. It considers the use of Smart Contracts as enablers of new decentralised coordination architectures among network agents. A multi-agent coordination through a Two-Part Tariff (TPT) to provide flexibility services in congested distribution power networks is stylised. Then, a market setting with large penetration of EVs from an aggregated portfolio has been individually modelled for the UK Local Energy Market of Cornwall to relieve local network congestion. Results illustrate that EVs coordination strategies are able to reduce network costs and manage congestion, allowing up to 6.5% more renewable energy to be delivered into the grid.

Challenges for large-scale Local Electricity Market implementation reviewed from the stakeholder perspective

“…LEMs participating in the ancillary services of the TSO could, however, interfere with the DSO's operation and cause or intensify a congestion [17,18]. Hence, a requirement is that future LEMs do not cause operational conflicts between the two stakeholders.…”

Prequalification of Distribution Resources in a Coordinated Market Environment

“…Given the increased penetration of RES in the distribution grid, the DSOs should actively manage their networks to avoid undesired situations, as highlighted in several reports [1], [2]. Towards this direction, more flexible resources could be considered to cope with the increased uncertainty characterizing the RES power output [3], [4]. In a modern power system, DERs could be employed in the provision of ancillary services, such as frequency control, voltage control, and congestion management for enhancing their operational capabilities.…”

EcoGrid 2.0: A large-scale field trial of a local flexibility market

“…The authors of [11] argue that potential conflicts of interest between system operators represent a key flexibility market design challenge. To fully leverage the capabilities of DERs, a well-designed coordination mechanism between the transmission system operator (TSO) and DSOs is required [12]. The Danish EcoGrid 2.0 project [13] has implemented and demonstrated a local flexibility market (LFM) with an adapted balancing market, which facilitates the participation of small flexible resources.…”