State of the art in Distribution Network Operations http://www.gridinnovation-on-line.eu/default.aspx?path=Articles/Libr...

State of the art in Distribution Network

Operations
The distribution network has traditionally been a passive network, which means to pass power from
bulk-supply points to consumers. Yet, due to the increase of distributed generation sources and the
injection of new loads (integration of Evs for instance), distribution networks are evolving towards active
networks. Future distribution networks, embedded between transmission networks and end-consumers,
will become increasingly equipped and will take advantage of new techniques of monitoring, control, data
analysis, communication infrastructure, planning and small-scale generation in order to support
distribution network operation in an efficient way.

1. Background and progress required beyond the state of the art

Historically, power systems were organized as monopoles involved in the whole electricity value chain, i.e.
from power generation to consumption. Electricity companies had the responsibility of long-term
planning as well as operational planning for managing the power system, in connection with both the
generation (the electricity was produced by large power plants) and consumption. Thus, these vertically
integrated companies had a comprehensive vision of the system and were focussing on supplying their
native consumers. Power installations, transmission and distribution networks were designed and sized to
meet this objective.

Yet, in a global and open European electricity market, whereas producers act in a competitive
environment, the grid has become a shared infrastructure acting as a facilitator for all stakeholders of the
electricity market. This paradigm change [1] allows all producers who inject energy and all consumers who
extract energy at different times to be connected, thereby increasing the global social welfare. The daily
operation of such infrastructure is ensured in a regulated environment by system operators.

In this context, the role of DSOs is to guarantee the distribution network reliability, i.e. both maintaining the
power quality at distribution level since the existing grid was initially designed for one-directional electricity
flows only, and ensuring the security of supply at distribution level in order to deliver energy to each
consumer within its own area of operation. This overarching goal is challenged by several issues that
should be taken into account by all DSOs in a near future in order to keep a constant balancing between
generation and consumption.

Firstly, many regulatory incentives in Europe have significantly impacted the development of dispersed
generation installations. The emergence of environmentally small-scale generation units is mainly based
on renewable energies such as wind turbines, photovoltaic panels, biothermal and geothermal generation.
These distributed generation units are planned to be directly integrated into the network at LV and MV
level as they are intended to be close to the final consumers. This renewable energy integration will
represent a dramatic change in the electricity generation and distribution. To begin with, it challenges the
operational planning at distribution level, particularly when considering the variability of renewable energy
sources and/or their distributed nature: the interconnection location may not be adequate (e.g. wind power
sources far from the consumption points can induce network losses or local constraints such as
congestion in MV networks) and their generation may be not time-relevant (e.g. peak load at night not
mitigated by relying on PV installations). To overcome this planning matter, the development of planning
and forecasting tools at distribution level are required in order to model the Impact of DER on Distribution
Networks.

Moreover, the integration of DER may also trigger interconnection problems. The centralized structure
where power flows from the transmission system towards the distribution system (waterfall) is now being
evolving as small DER units connected at low and medium voltage can impact the traditional power flow.
As matter stands, if a distributed generation source injects a significant amount of energy within the
distribution grid, a reversion of unidirectional flows may occur whereas the network was not originally
designed for handling bi-directional flows. This integration of DER, besides the increase of the network
hosting capacity, calls for an improvement in the network observability as well as a greater degree of

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controllability with regard to DERs, thereby requiring novel distribution network management tools.

Secondly, it is admitted that the distribution system was relatively less developed in terms of integration of
state-of-the art measurement technologies and monitoring and control systems in comparison with the
transmission system. This is due to the historical role of distribution networks, restricted to delivering
energy in a descendant flow. The low voltage has so far been a blind spot for network owners. In the
new context of the European electricity market, the missions and objectives of DSOs have evolved: the
separation between transmission and distribution into distinct networks has provided DSOs with novel
responsibilities as well as economical and technical constraints. The whole distribution network is thus
moving towards developing new equipment, advanced grid automation and distribution network
monitoring technologies in order to monitor normal and undesired situations. From the DSOs point of view,
the monitoring of the low voltage network is of paramount importance regarding load-flow optimization at
local level, faults detection, power quality and optimization of maintenance operations. The modernization
of the distribution grid is an ongoing process that currently requires further development concerning new
management methodologies and control methods (i.e. new algorithms to optimize system topology) as
well as new technologies that improve the distribution system measurements (e.g. smart meters).

Moreover, the increased cooperation between TSOs and DSOs may lead TSOs to require in-depth
monitoring of distribution network in view of using islanded mode of operation and safe reconnection.

The massive roll out of smart metering carried out by EU members will result in a dramatic increase in
data to be acquired by Supervisory Control And Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems. The monitoring,
control and data acquisition will not only deal with distribution network components and cooperation
between system operators, but will also involve consumers throughout Advanced Metering Infrastructure
(AMI) . AMI is indeed known as the ensemble of technologies used to gather and analyse the electricity
consumption data necessary to make demand response possible. AMI encompasses measurement
devices, collection systems and communication networks. It covers consumption data gathering, data
transmission and data reception. Integration, interfaces, standards, and open systems will therefore
become a necessity [2]. However, it is assumed that consumer acceptance will be low if such a system is
not capable of protecting their private data or is not able to provide reliable and trustable information
regarding price signals and/or commands directly received at their home smart meter. Thus, both
consumer-to-provider and provider-to-consumer communication links in AMI raise security and privacy
concerns [3]. As far as the security of consumption data is concerned, data protection tools and cyber
security issues shall be addressed.

2.Outcomes provided by the projects that address the challenges

of the cluster
A. Grid4EU project

Grid4EU is the biggest smart grid project to be funded by the European Union, financed to the tune of 25
M by the European Commission, and costing 54 M overall. The project is led by six European DSOs
covering more than 50% of the electricity supply in Europe. The project consists of six demonstrators (one
per DSO leading the project), which will be tested over a period of four years.

B. DG Demonet LV grids

New methods for operational planning at distribution level and active operation of low voltage networks
can reduce the high costs associated with upgrading power distribution infrastructure to host the expected
additional generation and load. DG Demonet Smart LV grid addresses this challenge and focuses on
making available new network management possibilities while taking into account the deployment of
advanced meter reading systems in many places. The main objective of the project is to find an efficient
way for integrating distributed generation from renewable energy (PV) and electro mobility with regard to
optimized investment of the existing asset base in low voltage grids. The focus is to increase the hosting
capacity for distributed energy resources (DER) and e-mobility of low voltage distribution networks.

C. DG Demonet MV grids

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Within DG DemoNet MV grids, voltage control concepts were developed in numerical simulation
environments and based on real network data (three case studies typical of Austrian medium voltage
networks). Moreover, both the economic and technical efficiency have been evaluated and compared to a
reference scenario. As a result, two different solutions for voltage control in MV networks have been
validated and successfully demonstrated: coordinated voltage control and distributed voltage control.

D. KIC-ASS

The goal of the KIC-ASS project (Knowledge and Innovation Community Active Sub Stations) is to bring
research institutes and industry together to develop key cost efficient components for future smart
secondary substations, thus contributing to improved distribution network operation through better
distribution network monitoring technologies. Within KIC-ASS, the hardware components that enable
measurement in, and control of the Active Distribution Substation, as well as initial algorithms for data
analysis, are developed. The focus of the KIC-ASS project is to develop components that can be installed
within an MV/LV substation from an economic perspective as well as from a technical perspective.

E. DISCERN

The basis of the overall concept of DISCERN is to utilise the experience of major European DSOs with
innovative and efficient distribution network monitoring technologies . The complementary nature of the
demonstration sites with regard to the specific challenges as well as technological and operational
solutions serve as the main resource of DISCERN.

F. METER-ON

Meter-ON is a coordination and support action to steer the implementation of smart metering solutions
throughout Europe. The project aims at speeding up and optimizing the adoption of smart metering
technologies and infrastructures in Europe by effectively collecting the most successful experiences in the
field and highlighting the conditions that enabled their development.

[1] Electrical Distribution Networks. Nouredine Hadjsad, Jean-Claude Sabonnadire. John Wiley & Sons.
January 2013.

[2] Smart Grids. Infrastructure, technology and solutions. Stuart Borlase. CRC press, 2013.

[3] Distributed Sensor Networks, Second Edition: sensor networking and applications. S. Sitharama
Iyengar, Richard R. Brooks. CRC Press, 2012.

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