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156

CIGR Canada Conference on Power Systems Vancouver, October 17- 19, 2010

Smart grids a network perspective on renewable integration and self-healing networks

YANNICK JULLIARD, SIEMENS AG, E D EA SG , Humboldtstr. 59, 90459 Nuremberg (GER)

SUMMARY
The contribution addresses two main issues in the smart grid arena. The first is the increasing need for renewable energy integration into the network which likely causes further stress on the network with respect to stability. The second is the need for more automation in the network. The increasing automation will help to keep the network stable, enable integration of distributed resources and demand side balancing. Furthermore the reliability of supply can be increased. Todays strategy for the integration of renewable energy is to allow the intermittent generation from wind and solar power to be connected directly to the network. This can either be done on the high-voltage transmission network side for large generation e.g. from off-shore wind power parks or to the distribution grid. Solutions for both connections will be presented in this contribution. Intermittent generation will also be seen on the medium voltage grid with back feeds from the low-voltage area due to the installation of distributed generation. This is likely to cause reverse power flows in the network with a need to of management of these flows. Managing reverse power flows calls for more automation in the distribution grid. Hence if the automation of the distribution grid is undertaken, methods for creating a living infrastructure type network that encompasses self-healing functions should be employed to maximize the benefits of increased grid controllability.

KEYWORDS
Smart grids and stability of networks, renewable integration, wind-generation connection to the grid, self-healing networks, network flexibility, diagnostic functions

Yannick.Julliard@siemens.com

1. INTRODUCTION
The integration of renewable energy into the existing electric infrastructure is a main challenge for the years to come [1]. The goals of fighting climate change are calling for a large-scale integration of bulk renewable energy on the transmission system and of distributed energy resources, mainly on the distribution grid level. Whereas bulk renewable integration of wind parks and concentrated solar power will see intermittent power generation sources feeding in the transmission grid. Here bidirectional flows are already common. The second challenge of distributed small-scale generation on the distribution side will likely create a change in the operational mode of distribution grids. The operation mode will change in the future with two sources of change the integration of new sources of power as well as new consumers that will act differently from time period to time period. Intelligent buildings will take power from the grid at times and feed power to the grid at other times. Therefore, those new consumers have been named Prosumers. Prosumers add to complexity in the grid and make the concept of smart grids necessary. They will be based on a communication and control layer added to the physical grid. The control layers guarantee the grid control functions necessary for a stable operation of the grid. Control functions range from energy balancing to demand response and peak load control to efficient power system operations and stability monitoring. This paper describes changes on Power System Operations, Control, Automation and Protection for Medium- and Low Voltage Distribution Systems due to installation of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) encompassing distributed generation, storage and PHEVs, These DERs may be sources of renewable energy like wind and solar generators, or fossil-fueled systems like combined heat and power systems or storage devices and PHEVs. A Virtual Power Plant (VPP) is the very first step for an optimal DER integration. The virtual power plant can be split into commercial virtual power plants assuming pure energy trading e.g. as done by energy aggregators and technical virtual power plants for grid control and grid support functions. Wherever possible and based on the regulation in place, functions of the virtual power plant can be combined to a techno commercial virtual power planed which assumes both functions. Taking into account that the resources managed can be consumers, storage or generators, one would suggest that the system should rather be called a distributed energy management system.

2. THE EVOLUTION OF GRID CONTROL STRUCTURES DUE TO INTEGRATION OF DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESSOURCES
The use of cellular grid structures for the grids of the future has been discussed in a Micro Grid (MG) concept and first trials show a very promising result. The structure for future applications of microgrids consider an optimal Integration of Distributed Energy Resources inside a geographically defined area. A cellular environment allows control inside a geographic area by distributing functions that had been centralized before e.g. energy balancing and optimum power flow control. Microgrids can be used in grid connected and islanded operation. Micro Grids can be structured in different ways and cover large or small geographic areas. They may consist of a single building, a cluster of several buildings like a university campus, a neighborhood or larger or the complete area of a distribution utility. The challenges cited above require some new control philosophies and enhancements to existing systems .These should be performed in parallel to the installation of DERs at medium and low voltage distribution levels. Those philosophies cover power system operation, control, automation and protection. Energy trading with participation of Prosumers in the retail energy market is increasingly pushed for by policies in place. The business processes need to be supported by software for energy trade and customer management. Changes to the existing systems will transform grid control over stages to become towards a smart grid control system of the future. The changes will be introduced gradually, but the trends can already be outlined:

The first stage of DER integration requires a stable power system, where large power generators maintain voltage and frequency stability, mostly connected at transmission level. Under these conditions, each DG (Distributed Generator) connected at distribution level can inject active power into the grid, without being coordinated with any other power system operation activities. Storage devices may take power from the grid when appropriate. This connect and forget principle has been applied during the last 20 years and is tolerable unless the amount of renewable distributed power does not exceed certain threshold levels. European Governments encouraged investors to provide additional Renewable DG installations and guaranteed rather high energy price for each injected kWh. The first stage is already taking place in Europe. The second stage will kick of, when the installed base of Distributed Generation reaches a certain level and governments / regulators start to change the existing laws in favor of DGs. In this case, owners of Distributed Energy Resources will be forced to sell their available energy by participating at the day-ahead energy market. [1]. Storage devices and PHEV will be increasingly used and integrated. For the production side of energy, the rather small size of a typical DG with a power capacity of typically 100kW 20MW is too small for a commercially viable marketing on the wholesale market. This barrier can be eliminated by the use of Virtual Power Plant (VPP) Technology. VPP Technology performs an integration and aggregation of a (large) number of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) of either generation and/or storage to virtually one unit. To do so, all DERs will be connected via reliable communication channels and equipment to a Virtual Power Plant Controller, which then may control a commercially viable size of MWs of generation and storage from a central location. This reaches the goal of bringing the energy to the market and may enable participation of DERs on the balancing energy market either as generator or as storage. Both ways can be used to reduce the amount of spinning reserve needed for a stable power grid operation. In a third stage, DERs may be aggregated to a Technical Virtual Power Plant (TVPP), while voltage and frequency stability of the power system is still maintained by large generators at transmission level. In this case, the Virtual Power Plant Controller (VPP-Controller) may influence active and reactive power support. Each DER can be managed according to its geographical location and independently from the other DER resources. The technical virtual power plant enables the following applications: 1. combination of the reactive power capability of all DERs inside a VPP with the goal of transmission system support. The support can be given at the distribution. In this case, all DERs inside the VPP behave like one single generator or storage device supporting the transmission interface with reactive power, thus maintaining the voltage level within permitted boundaries. 2. individual support of certain distribution locations by adjacent DERs. The voltage level at a feeder may be maintained by precisely controlling the reactive power output capability of DERs in the vicinity either by control of the generation or the storage capabilities. 3. Emergency support of power systems by DER resources. For example, if a distribution system is connected to the high voltage system via two transformers, and one of these fails, the other transformer may be overloaded. In this case, adjacent DERs may push active and reactive power output, and reduce the power flow from the transmission to the distribution system. Storage devices in the system might be deloaded and will supply power back to the network. The same can apply to PHEVs that can be used to supply the energy in short to medium timeframes. This will avoid an overload of the remaining transformer. In addition to the use cases described, the next step maybe the most important step of DER utilization when it comes to balancing generation and demand within a specific geographical area. The goal is to shut down fossil-fueled power plants with low efficiency. The amount of Carbon dioxide emission may be partly reduced with growing installation of Renewable Energy Resources, and with the installation of fossil fuel based systems like Combined Heat and Power (CHP) Systems with high efficiency. Moreover the capability to store electrical energy in PHEVs and other storage devices will enable the balancing of the intermittency of renewable generation. To drive towards a sustainable system, the necessary carbon dioxide reduction can only be achieved, if fossil-fueled power plants with low efficiency are shut down. This may be done by increasing the installation of clean energy resources. In this case, it may get difficult to maintain voltage and frequency stability with the

remaining large power plants, especially in emergency situations. This problem can be solved with the utilization of Virtual Power Plants acting as virtual large generator and storages, supporting the transmission system with power for secondary and tertiary voltage and frequency control. Last but not least, the fifth stage may lead to Micro Grid structure enabling grid connected and islanded mode of operations. A Micro Grid is an integrated self-sustaining energy system consisting of interconnected loads and distributed energy resources. It can operate in parallel with the grid or in an intentionally island mode. The integrated distributed energy resources are capable of providing sufficient and continuous energy to a significant portion of the internal demand. The micro grid possesses independent controls and can island and reconnect with no or minimal service disruptions.

3. THE CHALLENGES
All above described considerations require more or less a perfect distribution system to be established, which is not realistic as yet. Hence the challenge will be how to strategically transform todays network operations into the smart grid of the future. Therefore, additional topics must be considered to keep the availability of the power system high and to reduce the undesired side effects of DER integration in an economic way. 1. First of all, the installation of a large number of DERs will significantly change the operation principle of the power system, for which it was not designed: The voltage level at different locations of distribution feeders will depend on energy injections from generators. This may lead to voltage quality problems, (i.e. higher voltage levels the permitted VN+10%). 2. Depending on the amount of supplied energy by each DER, power flow direction at various locations of distribution feeders and at transformer locations may be timely different. But most of the distribution operators did not install Distribution SCADA (DSCADA) or Distribution Management Systems (DMS) for monitoring and control. 3. The existence of DERs being it generation as well as storage devices will interfere with the existing protection coordination. The protection coordination as it exists now was designed and tested before the installation of DERs. In the future, the distribution system will need to be operated in a mode resembling a living infrastructure where the protection settings are adjusted continuously. Ultimately, this leads to autoadaptive protection systems in the future. The challenges call for a new type of automation and control systems with a strategical investment into the distribution grid. The integration of renewable resources and decentralized energy resources such as storage and ecars is believed to be a core and vital function of this new system. [3] Hence, if one invests into distribution grid automation in a strategic way, this would mean to maximize the benefits of operational efficiency and to prepare the future power grid infrastructure. The vital question now is, if the different assets in the automation and control scheme will add synergies to each others capability, so autoadaptive operation of the network is supported. Self-healing functions are one of the possibilities to do so.

4. AUTOMATED SELF HEALING GRID CONTROL STRUCTURES

Siemens concept of an automated or self-healing smart grid divides the grid into a hierarchical decision/control scheme to most effectively address its possibilities. The paradigm change here is a design scheme called design for reliability. Smart Grid designs for reliability push decision making down toward the field devices in order to reduce the period of response for the detection of delivery issues. Ultimately, this movement to automate decision making on the feeders can be described in hierarchical decision/control layers as shown in the figure (Distribution Automation Control Hierarchy) below:

Devices (Intelligent Field Devices) These equipment perform device level decisions based on equipment connection energization and the nominal protection scheme. They provide fault detection/protection, detect connected energization state, and react to local voltage variations. The devices will also ensure that protection settings are adjusted according to the actual status of the grid. Super-Devices (Groups of Intelligent Field Devices) These equipment work in groups and will perform circuit level decisions. These decisions for a circuit level are based on energization status and normal local feeder connectivity. Feeder isolation and reconfiguration are performed using preset switching schemes. Group level communication needs to be supported, where one device in the group provides decision coordination as a super-device. The superdevices as a teamed application provide fault detection, fault isolation and restoration. The decisions are based on nominal feeder connectivity and energization state. In todays operation state the connectivity will be mainly radial, with low to medium loading levels and limited feeder ties. Smart-Substations These substations provide circuit and multi-circuit level decisions based on energization, current feeder connectivity, and assessed load and voltage conditions. They perform fault location, isolation and restoration based on actual feeder connectivity and contingency switching plans. They assess current equipment loading and voltage state. It is their duty to track real-time circuit tie capacities, and reconfigure feeder connections to alleviate circuit loading and voltage violations, where possible. By this means an optimum power routing through the network can be achieved. Where appropriate, smart substations control voltage correction equipment in a closed-loop automated fashion. Ultimately, smart substation controllers form the basis for a microgrid controller where Distributed Energy Resources (DER) are integrated into the distribution grid associated with the substation. They are locally responsible for the associated group of connected feeders. This is mainly effective where feeder reconfiguration decisions are necessary and load conditions are high. They will control the related Groups of Intelligent Feeder Devices and coordinate the associated Intelligent Field Devices on the feeder. They can provide assessment of the current circuit states as well as predictive (forecast) states. Super-Substations (Groups of Substations) These substations perform multi-substation circuit inter-tie level decisions based on actual energization and current connectivity. Prior to the decisions, loading, voltage, and angular differences are assessed. They work in groups and are responsible for fault restoration based on current feeder connectivity, related loading and voltage assessment. Emphasis is on real-time inter-substation tie capacity. Ultimately such super substations can be used for the inter-substation coordination of microgrids. Super-substations are generally responsible for a defined group of interconnected substations and provide optimization of loading and voltage conditions across multiple substations. The manage quality of service, and operate in current and predictive (forecast) states. Control Center The Control Center provides centralized coordination level decisions, based on optimization of total energy delivery. It performs optimized grid configuration, supports market plans and has an emphasis on crew safety. The control center is responsible for assigning and revoking automated decision authority (a true supervisory perspective). Furthermore it segments electrical and control models, coordinates human intervention while maintaining safety. In a longterm perspective, the control centre is used for global optimization of substation and feeder configurations. Ultimately it performs predictive assessment and reconfiguration so problems are avoided before they occur. Safety management of the crew is equally a role of the control centre.

Distribution Automation Control Hierarchy

Control Center

Decision Level Distribution Grid Supervision and Delivery Optimization

Decision Parameters Substation Tie Capacity, Load and Voltage Analysis, Actual Feeder Connectivity, Energization, Fault Substation Tie Capacity, Load and Voltage Analysis, Actual Feeder Connectivity, Energization, Fault Load and Voltage Analysis, Actual Feeder Connectivity, Energization, Fault Implied Feeder Connectivity, Energization, Fault Energization, Fault

Target Configurations Total Distribution Grid, Substations, Feeders, Devices and All Interconnections Medium/High Load Substations/Feeders with Significant Substation Interconnections Medium/High Load Feeders with Significant Interconnections Low Load Radial Feeders with Few Interconnections Low Load Radial Feeders with Few Interconnections

Increasing Decision Complexity

Decreasing Decision Time

Super Substation (Groups of Substations)

Interconnected Substation and Feeder Circuits

Substation

Interconnected Feeder Circuits

Super Device (Group of Devices) Individual Device

Feeder Circuit

Feeder Circuit Section

Figure 1: Distribution Automation Control Hierarchy The solution is an integrated combination of all these decision/control levels that opens options for utilities to implement the solution most appropriate and cost-effective for the situation. Not all substations or feeders will require the same level of automation and coordination. Multiple classes of substations and feeders can be defined, spanning the range from little or no automation on lightly loaded feeders and escalating in sophistication for highly loaded substations and feeders with significant inter-ties. Implementation priorities and levels of automation will generally be guided by reliability status and available budget. The above hierarchy provides an automation decision framework to address the varying classes of feeder and substations in a logical and cost effective way. The tradeoff in deciding which decision should take place at which location will be done by deciding how much time-to-act there is against how complex the decision needs to be. The further automated decisions are decentralized in the delivery grid, the more limited the available information, the less complex the decision, but the faster it can be made. The decision hierarchy described, takes advantage of this fact by taking fast actions on events at the device and super-device levels, rapidly accounting for adverse effects at the Smart-Substation and super-substation levels, and supervising and optimizing at the Control Center level. In order to make more complex decisions, both the control center applications and/or substations may use a logical (electrical) model representing the equipment, feeders and, potentially, connected substations, to provide a basis for loading and voltage analysis, and Volt/VAr management. The model is generally defined in other utility system from where it can be extracted. Alternately, specific modeling tools can be supplied to directly build the model. These tools are used at a central site (typically the control center) within a process to verify the model parameters, determine hierarchical control areas and responsibilities. Morever, decision authority contingency planning can be integrated. Standard formats should be used, for example CIM according to IEC 61970 and standard communication protocols (for example IEC61850) are a prerequisite.

Once the models are in place in the control center and/or substation, selected applications may be run to determine the complex voltage state and equipment loading for all feeders and equipment under the supervision of the particular substation. This is accomplished using all available data from real-time metering. Integration with Control Center Systems such as Outage management systems (OMS), energy management systems (EMS), and others, are anticipated and managed as much as possible through standardized protocols and processes.

5. CONCLUSION
The large scale integration of distributed energy resources requires new control and protection schemes that need to evolve from todays installed systems towards a network management allowing a self-healing system acting as a living infrastructure. The use of virtual power plant concepts to cover commercial and technical aspects needs to be fostered by advanced grid control concepts. Those concepts introduce decentralized decision making while maintaining crew safety and reliability of supply. In order to be cost effective and future proof, investments into grid control infrastructures and microgrid controls need to be based as much as possible on standards and require strong strategical decisions were the invest should be done and how the single component ties into the overall concept of tomorrows grid operation.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
[1] Windpower to Combat Climate Change; Energinet.DK; Tnne Kjaersvej 67, DK-7000 Fredericia [2] Sezi, T.:Intelligente Einbindung der dezentralen Energiequellen in das Verteilungsnetz und. Micro Grids Lecture at the Berlin Technical University, May 2010. [3] Glckselig, T.; Heuer, C; Jennrich, F.: Schwan M.: GRID ASSET MANAGEMENT SUITE (GAMS); CIRED Workshop Lyon, 2009; Paper 090