System architecture for managing congestions in distributions grids using flexibility

Abstract

The increased penetration of renewable, intermittent and distributed energy resources, flexible loads and EVs in the distribution network, has arisen congestion issues at medium and low voltage level. These flexible resources, aggregated by means of the Flexibility Operator (FO), can provide flexibility services to different stakeholders. The Distribution System Operator (DSO) can take advantage of these services and use flexibility for congestion management. The present paper proposes the timeline interaction structure between the DSO and the FO to exchange information, and the Optimal Flexibility Power Flow (OFPF) algorithm to calculate the Flexibility Requests (FR) required by the DSO. This methodology is developed under the INVADE H2020 Project and applied to the Spanish pilot-site, providing these services to the DSO to avoid congestions in the MV distribution grid, activating as a flexible resource a centralized energy storage (CES) installed at a secondary substation.