Microgrids and Active Distribution Networks offer a potential solution for sustainable, energy-efficient power supply to cater for increasing load growth, supplying power to remote areas, generation of clean power and reduction in emission of greenhouse gases & particulates as per Kyoto protocol.

Microgrids and Active Distribution Networks

Congestion management in competitive power market : A bibliographical survey

Highly Integrated Community Energy Systems (ICES) greatly but not solely dependent on combined heat and power (CHP) sources are a viable approach for dealing effectively with the new set of global threats which Mankind is facing, such as Climate Change, Global Warming and Extreme Poverty. ICES are capable of delivering sustainable electricity, heat and cold to small communities and of working as grid-connected or islanded microgrids, adding technical, economical, environmental and social benefits to populations. The impacts of introducing ICES in current distribution networks can be analyzed at different scales due to the wide range of influence exerted not only at the local but also at regional and global levels. For these reasons, there is increased need for appropriate modeling of ICES for the vital purposes of planning and analysis of these systems. An overview on the available bottom-up tools for the optimization planning and analysis of ICES is done in this paper. The survey shows that DER-CAM can be considered an appropriate tool for the purpose of ICES design modeling due to the robust and flexible three-level optimization algorithm, hourly time step and other scale considerations but particularly due to the several successful applications with modeling microgrid systems. Additionally there is research experience on expanding the objective function for environmental concerns and also with EV battery storage interactions. Finally, GAMS DER-CAM's base language, is a widely known package for allowing changes to be made in model specifications simply and safely. In that sense, there is potential in exploring such tool for the design of ICES. Furthermore, it is found that MARKAL/TIMES, also a GAMS/CPLEX based tool, has scale flexibility which enables it for analyzing the long-term deployment of ICES in time. There is opportunity in this field for further work exploring the sustainability-sound modeling for optimal design of ICES and deployment scenario options evaluation, through long-term time horizons consideration.

On the planning and analysis of Integrated Community Energy Systems: A review and survey of available tools

Climate, Extreme Heat, and Electricity Demand in California Norman L. Miller 1* , Katharine Hayhoe 2 , Jiming Jin 1 , Maximilian Auffhammer 3 Earth Sciences Division, Berkeley National Laboratory, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720 Department of Geosciences, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409 Agricultural and Resource Economics Department, University of California, Berkeley * Atmosphere and Ocean Sciences Group, 1 Cyclotron Road, Berkeley, CA 94720 phone: 510.495.2374, fax: 510.486.5686, email: nlmiller@lbl.gov Submitted to the Journal of Applied Meteorology and Climatology on 17 April 2006 Revised and resubmitted on 25 October 2006

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Climate, Extreme Heat, and Electricity Demand in California

Multi-objective energy management of CHP (combined heat and power)-based micro-grid

The physical nature of electricity generation and delivery creates special problems for the design of efficient markets, notably the need to manage delivery in real time and the volatile congestion and associated costs that result. Proposals for the operation of the deregulated electricity industry tend towards one of two paradigms: centralized and decentralized. Transmission congestion management can be implemented in the more centralized point‐to‐point approach, as in New York state, where derivative transmission congestion contracts (TCCs) are traded, or in the more decentralized flowgate‐based approach. While it is widely accepted that theoretically TCCs have attractive properties as hedging instruments against congestion cost uncertainty, whether efficient markets for them can be established in practice has been questioned. Based on an empirical analysis of publicly available data from years 2000 and 2001, it appears that New York TCCs provided market participants with a potentially effective hedge against volatile congestion rents. However, the prices paid for TCCs systematically diverged from the resulting congestion rents for distant locations and at high prices. The price paid for the hedge not being in line with the congestion rents, i.e., unreasonably high risk premiums are being paid, suggests an inefficient market. The low liquidity of TCC markets and the deviation of TCC feasibility requirements from actual energy flows are possible explanations.

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Efficiency of the New York independent system operator market for transmission congestion contracts

This report describes an investigation at Ernesto Orlando Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) of the potential for coupling combined heat and power (CHP) with on-site electricity generation to provide power and heating, and cooling services to customers. This research into distributed energy resources (DER) builds on the concept of the microgrid (mGrid), a semiautonomous grouping of power-generating sources that are placed and operated by and for the benefit of its members. For this investigation, a hypothetical small shopping mall ( Microgrid Oaks ) was developed and analyzed for the cost effectiveness of installing CHP to provide the mGrid's energy needs. A mGrid consists of groups of customers pooling energy loads and installing a combination of generation resources that meets the particular mGrid's goals. This study assumes the mGrid is seeking to minimize energy costs. mGrids could operate independently of the macrogrid (the wider power network), but they are usually assumed to be connected, through power electronics, to the macrogrid. The mGrid in this study is assumed to be interconnected to the macrogrid, and can purchase some energy and ancillary services from utility providers.

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An engineering-economic analysis of combined heat and power technologies in a (mu)grid application

https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc734686/m2/1/high_res_d/820262.pdf

The New York Transmission Congestion Contract Market: Is It Truly Working Efficiently?

Regardless of the form of restructuring, deregulated electricity industries share one common feature: the absence of any significant, rapid demand-side response to the wholesale (or, spot market) price. For a variety of reasons, electricity industries continue to charge most consumers an average cost based on regulated retail tariff from the era of vertical integration, even as the retailers themselves are forced to purchase electricity at volatile wholesale prices set in open markets. This results in considerable price risk for retailers, who are sometimes forbidden by regulators from signing hedging contracts. More importantly, because end-users do not perceive real-time (or even hourly or daily) fluctuations in the wholesale price of electricity, they have no incentive to adjust their consumption in response to price signals. Consequently, demand for electricity is highly inelastic, and electricity generation resources can be stretched to the point where system stability is threatened. This, then, facilitates many other problems associated with electricity markets, such as market power and price volatility. Indeed, economic theory suggests that even modestly price-responsive demand can remove the stress on generation resources and decrease spot prices. To test this theory, we use actual generator bid data from the New York control area to construct supply stacks, and intersect them with demand curves of various slopes to approximate different levels of demand elasticity. We then estimate the potential impact of real-time pricing on the equilibrium spot price and quantity. These results indicate the immediate benefits that could be derived from a more price-elastic demand. Such analysis can provide policymakers with a measure of how effective price-elastic demand can potentially reduce prices and maintain consumption within the capability of generation resources.

Empirical analysis of the spot market implications of price-elastic demand

Policymakers have increasingly recognized the structural impediments to effective competition in electricity markets, which has resulted in a renewed emphasis on the need for careful market design and market monitoring in wholesale and retail electricity markets. In this study, we review the market monitoring activities of four Independent System Operators in the United States, focusing on such topics as the organization of an independent market monitoring unit (MMU), the role and value of external market monitors, performance metrics and indices to aid in market analysis, issues associated with access to confidential market data, and market mitigation and investigation authority. There is consensus across the four ISOs that market monitoring must be organizationally independent from market participants and that ISOs should have authority to apply some degree of corrective actions on the market, though scope and implementation differ across the ISOs. Likewise, current practices regarding access to confidential market data by state energy regulators varies somewhat by ISO. Drawing on our interviews and research, we present five examples that illustrate the impact and potential contribution of ISO market monitoring activities to enhance functioning of wholesale electricity markets. We also discuss several key policy and implementation issues that Western state policymakers and regulators should consider as market monitoring activities evolve in the West.

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Emily S. Bartholomew

Papers

Efficiency of the New York independent system operator market for transmission congestion contracts

An engineering-economic analysis of combined heat and power technologies in a (mu)grid application

The New York Transmission Congestion Contract Market: Is It Truly Working Efficiently?

Empirical analysis of the spot market implications of price-elastic demand

A review of market monitoring activities at U.S. independent system operators