TDX-ASSIST stands for Transmission and Distribution data eXchanges for renewables integration in the European marketplace through Advanced, Scalable and Secure ICT Systems and Tools. This project aims to design and develop ICT tools and techniques that facilitate data exchange between Transmission System Operator (TSO) and Distribution System Operator (DSO).

The project is funded by the European Commission R&D Program H2020 (LCE-5-2017), has 12 partners from 6 countries and a duration of 3 years. REN and R&D Nester are partners in this project. Together with EDPD, they developed three use cases associated with three demos in Portugal in order to improve the information exchange between system operators in a timeframe linked with operational planning activities.

The three use cases are:

- Exchange of three-phase short circuit levels for the next 24 hours: this is needed to allow the SO to monitor the evolution of the short circuit current levels for a better planning (e.g. substation reinforcement) and operation of the power system (e.g. topology configuration). The use case involves the automatic calculation of three-phase short circuit currents (Icc) taking into account topology information and market results. The Icc calculation is performed at bay level, i.e., at the physical interface busbar between REN (Portuguese TSO) and EDPD (Portuguese DSO) and with a time step of 30 minutes. Typical results from the simulations are shown in the next figure where in blue is shown the variations of the short circuit current along a certain timeframe. The limits indicated in red and green are values that are typically published in the planning document (PDIRT).

- Disaggregated consumption and generation forecast at nodal level: This is useful for operational planning purposes. This forecast corresponds to a bottom-up approach valid for the next 72 hours with ganularity of 15 minutes and disaggregated at each node defined within an observability area previously agreed between TSO and DSO. The nodes belong to all EHV/HV substations but also to all the HV buses in meshes that connect two or more EHV/HV substations.

With this information together with a top-down approach currently in place in REN one aims to consolidate both approaches and contribute to a better description of the system state (e.g. to be used to improve further the state estimation) within the above mentioned timeframe.

- Improve fault location close to the TSO-DSO interface: In this use case of cooperation with the DSO, the information that is collected and recorded by the TSO protection equipment is exchanged with the DSO (triggered on event). By doing so the DSO can improve the fault location accuracy and therefore be able to optimize its operations, locating faults faster and reducing downtimes of the distribution lines at the interface with the transmission network.

All the information exchange is done based on current standards and with high security levels. Field tests are being done at the moment in order to improve the information exchange and the models needed to perform all the calculations involved.

This will allow the System Operation to of the global power system to be done in an efficient and effective way, in particular in the presence of an increased amount of renewable energy in the system.

·       CBC, Circuit Breaker Controllers: is the interface to the CB, for positions, signals and commands, also performing the synchronism check function and bay unit of the circuit breaker failure protection function.

·       IUDS, Intelligent Units for Disconnector Switch: is the interface to the disconnector switches, for positions and commands.

·       Merging units: convert currents and voltages from instrument transformers into sampled values that are then transmitted over the communication network.

See the latest updates on European Project INTERRFACE ("TSO-DSO-Consumer INTERFACE aRchitecture to provide innovative grid services for an efficient power system") in which R&D Nester is participating.

Key components of the 'Interoperable Pan-European Grid Services Architecture' (IEGSA) were identified and include: the Flexibility Register, the TSO/DSO coordination platform, the Single Interface to Market and the Settlement Unit.

1st Plenary Meeting of INTERRFACE Project

The first plenary meeting of INTERRFACE took place in Budapest, Hungary on 5-6 February. During the two-day event all 9 Work Package leaders and many more task leaders presented their progress and had constructive discussions on the next steps planned for the second year of the project.

More than 70 representatives of 42 consortium partners were present which raised a perfect momentum to further elaborate the design and services of the core of this project, the Interoperable Pan-European Grid Services Architecture (IEGSA). This will be the common platform between TSOs, DSOs and prosumers and its design will be based on the findings of Work Package 2(SOTA Analysis and End-user Requirements) and 3 (Services and Market design) and on the requirements extracted by the demonstrators of this project (http://www.interrface.eu/public-deliverables).

The plenary meeting was hosted by one of our Hungarian partners, Budapest University of Technology and Economics. 

Recent publications

Two peer-reviewed articles were published recently related to results of INTERRFACE Work Package 2:

·       Survey Analysis on Existing Tools and Services for Grid and Market Stakeholders and Requirements to Improve TSO/DSO Coordination 

Article produced by R&D Nester Team.

[link: https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/abstract/document/8984489]

M. Al-Saadi, R. Pestana, R. Pastor, G. Glória, A. Egorov, F. Reis, T. Simão (IEEE Xplore, 2020 February)

·       Flexibility markets: Q&A with project pioneers

[link: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0957178720300126?dgcid=author]

T. Schittekatte, L. Meeus (Utilities Policy, 2020 April)

New collaboration with Horizon project, CoordiNET

The INTERRFACE and CoordiNET [link: https://coordinet-project.eu/] projects both answered to the call LC-SC3-ES-5-2018-2020, titled "TSO-DSO-Consumer: Large-scale demonstrations of innovative grid services through demand response, storage and small-scale generation". The projects agreed to jointly produce a common position paper on the topics covered throughout the course of the projects.

The European Technology & Innovation Platforms (ETIPs) have been created by the European Commission in the framework of the new Integrated Roadmap Strategic Energy Technology Plan (SET Plan) by bringing together a multitude of stakeholders and experts from the energy sector.

·       Set-out a vision for RD&I for Smart Networks for Energy Transition and engage stakeholders in this vision.

·       Prepare and update the Strategic Research and Innovation Roadmap.

·       Report on the implementation of RD&I activities at European, national/regional and industrial levels.

·       Provide input to the SET Plan action 4, which addresses the technical challenges raised by the transformation of the energy system.

·       Identify innovation barriers, notably related to regulation and financing.

·       Develop enhanced knowledge-sharing mechanisms that help bring RD&I results to deployment.

·       Prepare consolidated stakeholder views on Research and Innovation to European Energy Policy initiatives.

·       Task Force 1: Digital Technologies and reference architectures and standards;

·       Task Force 2: Digital Energy Disruptive Use Cases;

·       Task Force 3: Digital Cyber-security recommendations.

·       Build homogeneity in the qualitative and quantitative analysis of projects, work done and lessons learned

·       Create a common platform for analysing the progress made with technologies, systems and solutions through-out the EU and facilitate their scalability and replicability;

·       Build a methodology to judge system needs in the energy transition capable of identifying tangible needs for building on progress made and give feedback to the other WGs for populating their R&I needs in the years ahead;

·       Identify the barriers which may slow down business model deployment;

·       Search for innovative solutions that will maximize the benefits of the innovation process that EU achieves through R&I activities in the area of Energy.

In this new reality of experiencing a worldwide pandemic, R&D Nester Team continued to develop the projects in which it is involved, never ceasing functions. Each member of the Team stayed at home, in telework mode, and all the necessary interactions between the Team were guaranteed through web meetings. R&D Nester Team proved that even from a distance it managed to maintain its synergy with focus on "creating a Smart Energy Future".

R&D NESTER during 2019 developed a preliminary study regarding forecast based on satellite pictures. This methodology uses the theoretical solar radiation of clear sky and computes a cloud index (CI) that indicates the number of clouds in the sky. The Portuguese mainland is divided in five regions, as follow:

The calculation of the cloud index is made using a clear sky library, built using satellite pictures and solar PV aggregation metering data from the region under study. This library defines the probability density distribution that characterizes the clear sky for each hour. Thus, the cloud index is calculated by comparing the probability density distribution of the new picture with the clear sky library.

A case study was developed using one Photovoltaic Solar Power Plant for the year of 2018, comparing the normalized root mean square error of the satellite methodology and the numeric weather prediction (NWP) model. These preliminary results are showing that methodologies using satellite pictures have a significant potential and should be studied in detail.

R&D Nester is going to continuing developing and researching on this subject in order to perform the best possible forecast.

R&D NESTER is involved in the development of long-term energy scenarios (up to 2050) at Pan-European and national level. These scenarios, created in the scope of H2020 Project FlexPlan, aim at having a future glance of different possible solutions to achieve a complete decarbonization of the European power system in 2050.

Using a methodology developed for FlexPlan, three different scenarios were created, having as basis the TYNDP2020 scenarios recently released by ENTSO-E [1]. These use different approaches to reach the European climate targets for 2050. Complementing the ENTSOS vision provided in TYNDP2020, and as a way to validate target numbers for 2050, official European Commission (EC) and different Member States (MS) documents were also considered in a screening study. These include the long-term strategy of the EC for a carbon neutral economy: "A Clean Planet for All" [2] and MS documents as the last issues of the National Energy and Climate Plans (NECP) and the long term plans for carbon neutrality, which are already available for some countries like Portugal [3]-[4]. As these scenarios were based on TYNDP2020 visions, the same names were used and, in summary, they present the following features:

·     National trends: this scenario is focused on the national and European climate targets, stated in the current versions of the NECPs, presenting the most conservative approach of the three scenarios. Nonetheless, it aims at a reduction of GHG of at least 80 % by 2050 (when compared to 1990).

·     Distributed Energy: this scenario aims at reaching carbon neutrality by 2050 and also answering the 1.5°C of average temperature increase by the end of the century, stated in the Paris Agreement. In this scenario, these targets are reached through the large-scale deployment of distributed energy solutions, with a high focus on consumer/prosumer based solutions.

·     Global Ambition: similarly to Distributed Energy, this scenario reaches carbon neutrality by 2050 and the 1.5°C target. However, the approach to reach these targets is more focused on centralized solutions, derived cost reduction due to the economies of scale (e.g. in offshore wind).

Using the aforementioned data sources, the methodology developed in FlexPlan allows creating energy scenarios for 2050 ensuring possible visions for the power system landscape. As a result of this methodology, national and European level forecasts for the European power systems are created. As an example of these results, the following two graphs demonstrate a possible vision for the total installed capacity in Portugal and Europe, using the Distributed Energy scenario. The depicted results do not represent binding solutions. Instead, these are possible solutions, which allow reaching the climate targets set by the different MS and the EC. In the scope of the FlexPlan project, these scenarios will be used to demonstrate the capabilities of a grid-planning tool and to provide possible solutions (regarding power grids) to reach these targets. Indicated fossil fuels installed capacities correspond to decarbonized solutions.

References:

[1] - ENTSO-E, TYNDP2020 Scenarios Report, 2019, available at https://www.entsos-tyndp2020-scenarios.eu/

[2] - European Commission, A Clean Planet For All, 2018, available at: https://ec.europa.eu/clima/policies/strategies/2050_en

[3] - Portuguese Environment Agency, Plano Nacional Energia e Clima, 2019, available at https://apambiente.pt/_zdata/Alteracoes_Climaticas/Mitigacao/PNEC/PNEC%20PT_Template%20Final%202019%2030122019.pdf

[4] - Portuguese Environment Agency, RNC2050 - Roteiro para a Neutralidade Carbónica, 2019, available at: https://descarbonizar2050.pt/

Check another ETIP-SNET Energy Story and learn about "Underground Sun Storage", a pilot project using power to gas technology, which enables the conversion of electricity to hydrogen, which is then stored in the natural gas network.

Link to open publication

In May, the Research and Innovation Implementation Plan 2021-2024 was published, with the participation of R&D Nester, among several European partners. R&D Nester participates in 4 of the 5 Working Groups of ETIP-SNET.

This document follows the document ETIP-SNET Vision 2050, which defines a set of objectives to be achieved in 2050, and the document ETIP-SNET R&I Roadmap 2020-2030, which describes the path to achieve these objectives.

This Implementation Plan describes the activities necessary to follow the route identified in the Roadmap, identifying 24 topics in the 6 Research Areas previously defined, namely, "Consumer, Prosumer and Citizen Energy Community", "System Economics", "Digitalization", "Planning-Holistic Architectures and Assets", "Flexibility Enablers and System Flexibility" and "System Operation". The 24 topics detail themes within these 6 Areas.

Link to open publication