Dispatching active distribution networks through electrochemical storage systems and demand side management

In this paper, the problem of dispatching the operation of a distribution feeder comprising a set of heterogeneous resources is investigated. In particular, the main objective is to track a 5-minute resolution trajectory, called the dispatch plan that is computed one day before the beginning of operation. During real-time operation, due to the stochasticity of part of the resources in the feeder portfolio, tracking errors need to be absorbed in order to track the committed dispatch plan. This is achieved by modulating the power consumption of a grid-connected battery energy storage system (BESS) and of the HVAC system of a commercial controllable building (CB). To this end, a hierarchical multi-time-scale controller is designed to coordinate the two entities while requiring a minimal communication infrastructure. The effectiveness of the proposed control framework is demonstrated by means of a set of full-day experimental results on the 20kV distribution feeder of the EPFL campus that is comprised of: 1) a set of uncontrollable resources represented by 5 office buildings (350kWp) and a roof-top PV installation (90kWp) 2) a set of controllable resources, namely, a grid-connected BESS (720kVA-500kWh), and a fully-occupied multi-zone office building (45 kWp).