Unlocking Virtual Feeder Hosting Capability for Renewable Integrations via P2P Ancillary Service Trading

Facing climate change, the net zero challenge, the RE100 global initiative, and the EU Carbon Border Adjustment Mechanism (CBAM) have led to a greater appetite for green energy and resulted in increased interconnections of distributed energy resources (DER) to the power grid. This paradigm shift in energy mix comes with operational challenges, such as bi-directional power flows, power quality, and line overloads in areas without sufficient hosting capacity. Distribution feeder renewable hosting capacity was conservatively determined by the distribution system operator (DSO) based on factors such as thermal ratings of network components, voltage regulation, short circuit level, and power quality considerations. Better utilization of network resources and higher hosting capacity can be realized by employing smart, flexible DER dispatch mechanisms. Considering system security requirements, this paper showcases dynamic “virtual feeder capacities” obtainable from proactive peer-to-peer (P2P) blockchain-based ancillary service trading through a decentralized marketplace. Numerical simulations and cost-benefit analyses results indicate that leveraging ancillary services from increased prosumer participations could resolve potential intermittent operation security problems and unlock additional capacity for higher renewable integrations in the existing distribution networks to boost RE100 goal and serve as non-wire alternatives in integrated distribution system planning.