Distributed Energy Resources and its Potential Ancillary Services in the Future Power System

Ancillary services have been provided by synchronous machine-based generation units to ensure the stability and reliability of the power system. For many years, these services were contracted to conventional synchronous machine-based generation units. In the future, power systems will be dominated by inverter based resources (IBR). This paper describes distributed energy resources (DER) technology and evaluates its potential to provide ancillary services in the future power system that is integrated with significant IBR. The general attributes of DER technology are listed. The ancillary services that can be provided in supporting the grid operation are described. A number of ancillary services can be provided by groups of DERs for local grid support as well as to bulk power systems as groups are also explained and supported with a case study.