Summary
The increasing generation from Renewable Energy Sources and the growing final consumption electrification, key elements of the energy transition, will have a strong negative impact on the whole power system, particularly on distribution networks. Adopting new operational strategies, including exploiting the flexibility from Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) to address technical issues, will be necessary for a massive distribution system modernisation effort. However, a critical point for the optimal use of flexibility services from DER is the typical radial operation of power distribution networks that may limit the flexibility perimeter, causing insufficient availability of flexible resources for solving specific technical issues or a lack of competition among them (thin local ancillary service markets) with consequent higher costs of flexibility procurement for the Distribution System Operator (DSO).
Read more Read lessA promising solution to improve the performance of power distribution systems is the adoption of Soft Open Points (SOPs), power electronic devices that can replace traditional mechanical tie switches (normally open) with voltage-source converters connected in back-to-back mode.
Its main advantage is the ability to preserve radial operation of the distribution network while improving power balancing and increasing hosting capacity. Indeed, SOPs enable active power exchange between adjacent feeders, thereby combining the flexibility of their DERs and each feeder's residual capacity while delivering independent reactive power support at the SOP ends.
To assess its potential benefits, the SOP model has been incorporated into a linearised Optimal
Power Flow (OPF) and systematically solved within a planning tool to address all possible technical issues in the network. By doing so, the OPF optimises the operation of the available
SOPs, minimising the amount of flexibility services (and the associated procurement costs) that the DSO must purchase to ensure adequate and secure system operation. The developed tool is applied to study a large portion (at the regional scale) of the Italian MV distribution system, in the 2030 time horizon. The future energy scenario is aligned with the goals of the Italian Integrated National Energy & Climate Plan. By assuming the simplifying hypothesis of fixed network topologies, the results on the savings of exploiting flexibility are compared with investments in modern SOP devices to discuss the value of this innovative planning solution.
Additional informations
| Publication type | Session Materials |
|---|---|
| Reference | C6_11136_2026 |
| Publication year | |
| Publisher | CIGRE |
| Country | Italy |
| Study committees | |
| File size | 2 MB |
| Price for non member | 30 € |
| Price for member | 30 € |
Authors
CELLI Gianni - università di Cagliari, Italy
Keywords
Hosting capacity, Optimal Power Flow, Soft Open Point, flexibility.
