The present paper considers some technical issues related to the “energy blockchain” paradigm applied to microgrids. In particular, what appears from the study is that the superposition of energy transactions in a microgrid creates a variation of the power losses in all the branches of the microgrid. Traditional power losses allocation in distribution systems takes into account only generators while, in this paper, a real-time attribution of power losses to each transaction involving one generator and one load node is done by defining some suitable indices. Besides, the presence of P–V nodes increases the level of reactive flows and provides a more complex technical perspective. For this reason, reactive power generation for voltage support at P–V nodes poses a further problem of reactive power flow exchange, which is worth of investigation in future works in order to define a possible way of remuneration. The experimental section of the paper considers a medium voltage microgrid and two different operational scenarios.

A Technical Approach to the Energy Blockchain in Microgrids

We derive a measure of "electrical centrality" for AC power networks, which describes the structure of the network as a function of its electrical topology rather than its physical topology. We compare our centrality measure to conventional measures of network structure using the IEEE 300-bus network. We find that when measured electrically, power networks appear to have a scale-free network structure. Thus, unlike previous studies of the structure of power grids, we find that power networks have a number of highly-connected "hub" buses. This result, and the structure of power networks in general, is likely to have important implications for the reliability and security of power networks.

A Centrality Measure for Electrical Networks

This paper addresses the allocation of electrical losses in distribution networks with embedded generation, in a liberalized environment. The nonlinear nature of the issue, the loss changes due to voltage variation and, specially, the contribution of embedded generation to loss variation are considered. The proposed method is based on tracing the real and imaginary parts of the currents and has two steps. First, the losses in the distribution network, in the absence of embedded generation, are allocated to the consumers (or their providers). Second, the variations in the losses that result from the influence of embedded generation are allocated to the generators. These variations are a measure of the avoided or added costs related to losses. In the allocation process, made in a branch basis, both real and reactive powers are considered. The methodology presented in this paper can be used to evaluate embedded generation incentives or to design tariffs for the use of the distribution network.

Loss allocation in distribution networks with embedded generation

Megawatt (MW) power flow tracing can assess the extent of network usage by the participants that can be effectively used for multiple objectives like transmission pricing, loss allocation, etc. MW power tracing, a post-facto analysis of power flow solution, is amenable to multiple solutions. This implies multiplicity of solution space of transmission cost and loss allocation problems. The conventional tracing methods enforce a "proportionate sharing rule" to calculate the shares. These shares are sensitive to quantity and distance as against the postage stamp method, which is immune to distance. Any of these methods will result in penalizing a set of constituents, which raises a fairness issue. This is evident from the experiences of developing countries like India. In this paper, a new paradigm is suggested that attempts to capture the best of the two methodologies by exploring multiplicity of the solution space of the tracing problem, within the given constraints. We show that the tracing problem can be formulated as a linear constrained optimization problem. We propose a tracing compliant modified postage stamp allocation method that computes a traceable solution that minimizes overall deviation from the postage stamp allocation. Results on actual data of central transmission utility of Western Regional Grid of India demonstrate the claims

Optimization approach to real power tracing: an application to transmission fixed cost allocation

Power system vulnerability is a key concern in modern societies and many efforts have been devoted to its analysis. Recently, the wide domain of complex networks that can be used to assess the vulnerability of network systems has been applied to power grids as well with focus on the topological vulnerability of the transmission systems based on its structure in terms of the nodes and their connection patterns. However, a pure topological approach, as proposed in the current literature, fails in capturing the specific features of power systems. The authors propose an extended topological approach, which can incorporate several important features of the power grids such as flow paths, line flow limits and gen/load bus distribution. Also, a set of new metrics able to provide an assessment of the system vulnerability is defined. ‘Net-ability’ measures the aptitude of the grid in transmitting power from generation to load buses efficiently. ‘Path redundancy’ assesses the available redundancy in terms of paths in transmitting power from a generation to a load bus based on entropy. Based on the previous two metrics, the authors introduce a third metric, the ‘survivability’, as a global metric to evaluate the aptitude of the network in assuring the possibility to match generation and demand in case of failures or attacks. The metrics proposed will be applied to different test systems and to a real-transmission system to illustrate their application and effectiveness.

Extended topological approach for the assessment of structural vulnerability in transmission networks

In this paper, graph theory is used to calculate the contributions of individual generators and loads to line flows and the real power transfer between individual generators and loads that are significant to transmission open access. Related lemmas are proved which present necessary conditions required by the method. Based on AC load flow solution a novel method is suggested which can decide downstream and upstream power flow tracing paths very fast and can calculate the contribution factors of generations and loads to the line flows efficiently. The power transfer between generators and loads can also be determined. The suggested method is suitable for both active and reactive power tracings of real power systems.

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Ping Wei

Papers

Power transfer allocation for open access using graph theory-fundamentals and applications in systems without loopflow