Why?

Energy transition challenges the existing role of local system operators. They need to utilize the existing grid faster than enforcement. Grid operators have several instruments but need new tools to balance the local grid in real-time, fully automated.

For example, Norway, with almost 100% renewable power production, extensive smart meter deployment, a mature power market design, and significant Electric Vehicle (EV) penetration, serves as a showroom for a flexible power system. The growing need for electrification in society puts stress on the electricity grid, especially at the LV and MV levels.

The grid can be relieved from stress by using flexibility resources. To enable this trading of flexibility between the grid and the flexibility service providers, the NODES™ market platform is one of the prominent solutions in the market. To make trading of flexibility even easier and more effective, NODES™ partnership with GridTools has enabled an effective solution for grid operators. This use-case explains how a local flexibility market like NODES™ can work with the GridTools solution.

Market-based flexibility can solve both use-cases described below. The DSO must then rely on sufficient flexibility volumes to solve the problem when it occurs. This can be done by reserving flexibility in the NODES™ marketplace on a long-term basis (LongFlex™), and also by trading the available flexibility when the problem occurs (ShortFlex™). ShortFlex™ is most cost-effective since there is no reservation fee, but it requires a perfect market. In practice, the DSO will use a combination of LongFlex™ and ShortFlex™.

Overload condition managed with GridTools and NODES™

This use-case manages overload conditions in winter-time when the temperature is low and power consumption is very high during peak hours. Without smart grid operation and flexibility in the grid, lines and transformer stations would periodically be overloaded, reducing their lifetime or even worse: it leads to power loss for the customers.

In such a situation, GridTools can trade flexibility from NODES™ market and thus avoid the overload condition. This allows flexibility, utilized as a non-wire alternative to the grid operation in stressed situations.

N-1 condition managed with GridTools and NODES™

The N-1 use-case is a risk-based approach: Can the DSO make the grid robust enough to sustain a failure in a transformer station?
For example, a Transformer station is shown with Normal vs T2 failure state. If there is a risk of overload if T2 should suddenly and unexpectedly fail (T2 failure), GridTools will ensure that T1 can handle the situation and avoid a follow-up failure in T1 and a power outage for the customers. With the integration to NODES™ market, GridTools can see available Flexibility offers from Flexibility Service Providers (FSPs). This way a buy order placed in the NODES™ market can solve the N-1 condition for the grid operator.

Automated operational planning and control

GridTools is the DSO’s tool to find and automatically optimize problems in the grid as described in the two use-cases above.

When there is sufficient flexibility in the NODES™ marketplace at a price the DSO is willing to pay, GridTools will make an optimized solution as shown in the figure above and automatically trade sufficient flexibility. Thus, solving the problem without the need for operator intervention. The DSO has, however, full control in each of the steps in the GridTools process and can manually intervene if desired.

“GridTools provides the DSO grid operators with the tools necessary for handling congestion management in the future. In addition to forecasting power transformer loads, GridTools provides the grid operator with a useful overview of the all the available ShortFlex-bids in the NODES platform. Though automation of the bid-selection, GridTools drastically reduces the workload of the DSO grid operators”. Johannes Fagermyr, System Operator at Glitre Nett

Results

NODES™ and GridTools by Å Energi have, through the Norflex and Euroflex projects, showcased how new tools can automate the use of flexibility and utilize the grid with over 35,000 automated flexibility trades from Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) ranging from kW to MW. All types of assets from EV chargers, batteries, heat pumps, Demand Response (DR) from buildings and industrial assets.
The goal of the Euroflex project is to scale up the flexibility volume in the grid to be sufficient to actually solve the problems that will occur. Also making all major DSOs in Norway able to use smart grid operations and flexibility. So far, 7 of the largest DSOs in Norway are using GridTools and NODES™ as part of the EuroFlex project.

More details on the Euroflex project: https://nodesmarket.com/euroflex/

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