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edso - Grid Observability For Flexibility Report

 This report describes identified elements of network observability that are important in the process of managing flexibility sources for network operation. A general approach to the meaning of flexibility for DSOs in combination with network observability has been created. A generic roadmap scheme has been proposed to identify the relevant elements of observability for managing flexibility sources in a way to unlock their potential.

The report was prepared by Task Force 1- Active Network Management members from E.DSO Technology & Knowledge Sharing Committee, based on their expert knowledge. The main information concluded in this report is also presented in brochures published for a wider range of market participants.

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Executive summary

The transformation taking place in the world`s energy systems represents one of the greatest technological challenges that industrialized societies have undertaken. The transformation of a network designed to distribute electricity from intermittent generation sources, while involving millions of additional participants using advanced technologies, will introduce a high degree of uncertainty and variability into the future electricity network. These changes potentially threaten the security of the electricity supply and must be carefully planned to avoid a risk to the reliability and quality of supply. Electricity distribution is fundamentally changing due to variable generation from wind and solar power plants and the new loads on the consumers` side. Thisrequires a new operating paradigm in which the operational decision-making cycles of distribution system operators (DSOs) are complemented by new mechanisms to deal effectively with the rapid development of distributed energy resources (DER). Operational control of the grid is and will be challenging due to the uncertainty associated with intermittent RES, but also with a large amount of dynamic data flows as control becomes more distributed and adaptive. Therefore,new network operating systems are needed that follow the basic principles of control theory - observability, controllability and algorithms. Currently, full observability of the distribution network is achieved at the HV level. The MV level of the network also seems to be well equipped with elements enabling observability, but in this case, full observability comparable to the HV level
network cannot be spoken of. The observability at the LV grid is rather low (depending on the country and observability definition). This is mainly because LV networks have the complexity of topology with many connection points for both generators and loads. The complexity, among others, depends on the density of consumers in the area supplied from a single secondary substation and customers` power connection needs. Nevertheless, certain observability mechanisms based, for example, on equipping secondary substations with balancing meters are allowed, for the time being, to allow operational activities to be carried out in such a way as to ensure stable network operation.

What is more, controllability whitens changing market designs and network operating systems based on dynamic algorithms is not a permanent feature of network management. The challenge is that the algorithms are not easily adaptable to the unique physical characteristics of the electricity grid. Furthermore, system complexity increases with the surface of cyber-attacks.

Architectures, design and development methods associated with very large and complex systems are required to meet current growth trends and policy objectives for renewable and distributed resources. The potential scale and scope of diversity require operators and systems to have greater location awareness to effectively manage rapidly changing conditions. Observability in this context is a measure of the effectiveness of network sensor data in determining system-wide behaviour. Variability occurs over shorter time cycles and a much larger area. This requires the development of an observability strategy to make network state information visible at a higher frequency and with the optimal data set to determine the overall behaviour of the electrical system. These requirements arise from the demands of protection and control systems and related market operations, the main element of which is the use of flexibility services in the network management process.

This report describes identified elements of network observability that are important in the process of managing flexibility sources for network operation. A general approach to the meaning of flexibility for DSOs in combination with network observability has been created. A generic roadmap scheme has been proposed to identify the relevant elements of observability for managing flexibility sources in a way to unlock their potential.

The text and figures presented in this report were prepared by the E.DSO TF1 ANM members, based on their expert knowledge. The main information concluded in this report is also presented in brochures published for a wider range of market participants.