Co-simulation of Demand-side Management and Load Flow Analysis tools in a LV network: Mitigating Over & Under Voltages

The traditional power grid map has drastically changed with the advent of renewable energy technologies. The intermittent nature of renewable energy sources hours. In order to deal with issues related to the fundamental quantities of a power grid system (frequency, voltage and current), smart grid systems have been introduced to ensure that specific parts of a network are not overused against others. A smart grid system includes a series of communication technologies for every step between the generation and the consumption domains. Different smart grid mechanisms have already been tried and tested within the energy market. In this study, a co-simulation platform for smart grids (ValueFlex) was developed and tested, combining a demand-side management (DSM) tool and a load flow analysis (LFA) tool with the scope of regulating voltage levels in low voltage (LV) networks. The overall goal of the ValueFlex platform is to enable users to manipulate the available flexibility of smart devices in a power system in order to address issues related to its topological characteristics. In this project, a small LV network with households (HH), heat pumps (HP) and cold storage (CS) devices powered by photovoltaic (PV) and combined heat and power (CHP) units is being tested under a series of configuration scenarios. The main conclusion drawn from this study was that a co-simulation platform can assist voltage control currently being done by transformers and generators. In addition, this study focuses on the development of a model within ValueFlex for a CS device with the purpose of using it in simulation scenarios and approximating the functioning of a real-world device in a smart grid system.