Application of low voltage grid management units in demand side coordination for grid services

Today, power systems are faced with fast changes in the distribution grid level. The attention to distributed and renewable energy resources is growing, traditional controllers are being replaced by smart energy management systems in buildings, and the share of electric vehicles (EVs) in transportation is increasing. These changes are creating new challenges for the reliable operation of distribution grids such as voltage drop issues and overloading of transformers and lines. Demand response is known as one of the best solutions for solving grid issues. To make the best use of the loads flexibility, aggregation and coordination mechanisms are needed. In this paper, a new load aggregation method is proposed that is based on installing low voltage grid management units (LVGMUs) in different areas of the distribution grid for collecting the power consumption, flexibility capacity data, and interaction with the distribution system operator (DSO). Algorithms are proposed to define the interaction between DSO, LVGMUs, and customers. Heat pumps, PV/battery setups, and EVs are chosen as flexible loads. The method is evaluated by applying it to the IEEE-33Bus test system. Simulation results confirm the effectiveness of the proposed method in providing voltage regulation service.