A virtual power plant model for time-driven power flow calculations

Gerardo Guerra; Juan A. Martinez Velasco; Gerardo Guerra; Juan A. Martinez Velasco

doi:10.3934/energy.2017.6.887

AIMS Energy

2017, Volume 5, Issue 6: 887-911. doi: 10.3934/energy.2017.6.887

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A virtual power plant model for time-driven power flow calculations

Gerardo Guerra ,
Juan A. Martinez Velasco ^,

Departament d’Enginyeria Electrica, Universitat Politecnica de Catalunya, Av. Diagonal 647, 08028 Barcelona, Spain

Received: 08 September 2017 Accepted: 05 November 2017 Published: 13 November 2017

This paper presents the implementation of a custom-made virtual power plant model in OpenDSS. The goal is to develop a model adequate for time-driven power flow calculations in distribution systems. The virtual power plant is modeled as the aggregation of renewable generation and energy storage connected to the distribution system through an inverter. The implemented operation mode allows the virtual power plant to act as a single dispatchable generation unit. The case studies presented in the paper demonstrate that the model behaves according to the specified control algorithm and show how it can be incorporated into the solution scheme of a general parallel genetic algorithm in order to obtain the optimal day-ahead dispatch. Simulation results exhibit a clear benefit from the deployment of a virtual power plant when compared to distributed generation based only on renewable intermittent generation.
- distribution system,
- energy resource,
- energy storage system,
- OpenDSS,
- photovoltaic generation,
- power flow,
- virtual power plant,
- wind generation
Citation: Gerardo Guerra, Juan A. Martinez Velasco. A virtual power plant model for time-driven power flow calculations[J]. AIMS Energy, 2017, 5(6): 887-911. doi: 10.3934/energy.2017.6.887

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Abstract

This paper presents the implementation of a custom-made virtual power plant model in OpenDSS. The goal is to develop a model adequate for time-driven power flow calculations in distribution systems. The virtual power plant is modeled as the aggregation of renewable generation and energy storage connected to the distribution system through an inverter. The implemented operation mode allows the virtual power plant to act as a single dispatchable generation unit. The case studies presented in the paper demonstrate that the model behaves according to the specified control algorithm and show how it can be incorporated into the solution scheme of a general parallel genetic algorithm in order to obtain the optimal day-ahead dispatch. Simulation results exhibit a clear benefit from the deployment of a virtual power plant when compared to distributed generation based only on renewable intermittent generation.

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