Model-free adaptive incentives control for frequency regulation of distributed energy storage aggregator

• A flexible control scheme for aggregating DES is proposed. • A model-free adaptive incentive control method is proposed. • A CVaR-based frequency regulation signal allocation strategy is proposed. • The power grid scheduling requirements are coordinated with the autonomy of users. Distributed energy storage (DES) has the characteristics of fast response and can be used as a high-quality frequency regulation resource cluster of the power grid through effective aggregation. However, the conflict between the autonomy of DES users and the demand for power grid regulation could become a prominent problem. In this study, a flexible control strategy based on broadcasting dynamic incentive signals to energy storage users is proposed to solve this problem. A model-free adaptive incentives control approach for DES aggregators participating in frequency regulation is proposed to tackle the uncertainty of user response and the difficulty of DES cluster modeling. This approach dynamically linearizes the model of a DES cluster using real-time data from the cluster control system and outputs optimal real-time incentive signals. The performance of the proposed incentives control method is compared with the proportional integrator control method. In addition, a frequency regulation capacity bidding strategy based on conditional value-at-risk theory is developed to balance the economy and robustness of frequency regulation of the DES Aggregator. Case studies are conducted on a single-area power system in MATLAB/Simulink, which validate the effectiveness of the method mentioned above.