New technologies are challenging conventional regulatory regimes and new policies and consumer demands are similarly challenging the currently available technologies. For example, as the demand for cleaner energy sources gains ground all over the globe, technological improvements are necessary to integrate large amounts of variable energy sources such as solar and wind into various electricity systems, while ensuring acceptable levels of reliability and security of the system. Similarly, as consumers engage more with electricity systems, demand profiles and consumer choice, among other demand-side elements, are also challenging our system, providing opportunities for demand-side management and related technologies. In this rapidly changing landscape, regulators and policy-makers must consider how consumer participation and new technologies interact with the market place.

This discussion paper from ISGAN Annex 6 Power Transmission & Distribution Systems Tasks 1 and 2 focuses on achieving flexible power delivery by examining the policies and regulations, as well as expansion, planning, and market analysis for the United States and Europe. This review looks at how policies and regulations have changed to accommodate new developments in the operation, planning, and market areas of each grid system. Additionally, it highlights certain efforts undertaken to better understand and implement the policy and regulatory changes in these processes as both the United States and Europe work towards achieving a modernized grid system, specifically including the increased deployment and use of smart grid technologies, e.g., synchrophasor measurement technologies, net metering, distributed generation, energy storage, advanced metering infrastructure.

About ISGAN Discussion Papers: ISGAN discussion papers are meant as input documents to the global discussion about smart grids. Each is a statement by the author(s) regarding a topic of international interest. They reflect works in progress in the development of smart grids in the different regions of the world. Their aim is not to communicate a final outcome or to advise decision-makers, rather to lay the ground work for further research and analysis.

This is a key risk area that must be addressed for successful implementation. In this context, it is worth briefly reviewing conventional methods of cost-benefit analysis and mechanisms for cost recovery with a greater focus on the consumer side of the equation, as the underlying values and processes will inform new cost allocation methods for smart grid investments.

ISGAN brings the experience and perspective of the global Smart Grids community together in this paper in order to increase understanding of the costs and benefits of smart grids from a consumer perspective, so that they may be communicated more widely and more effectively.

This paper, authored by Annex 4: Synthesis Insights for Decision Makers, attempts to address these issues across a range of likely possible smart grid configurations and market structures, while acknowledging that many other technology configurations are possible. In light of the continuing evolution of the smart grid, cost allocation will be an ongoing subject of ISGAN research and analysis, and this white paper aims to provide a framework for this ongoing analysis.

The need for new balancing resources and for a “seamless grid” capable of integrating both large-scale and small distributed energy resources (DER) are among the driving forces of smart grid development. Smarter grids are an important enabling tool for achieving higher penetrations of VRR on transmission and distribution networks. Depending upon the relative share and geographic distribution of large-scale and DER resources, various technologies, regulations, and policies are required to support high levels of VRR generation. In this context, policy makers will benefit from an understanding of how smart grid technologies contribute to VRR integration, and all stakeholders will benefit from increased alignment between smart grid development roadmaps and national and regional visions for renewable energy development.

The objective of this report, authored by Annex 4: Synthesis Insights for Decision Makers, is to give insights for decision makers on the various contributions of smart grid systems in achieving VRR integration. A variety oftools and solutions exist for achieving high penetrations of VRR generation, and the smart grid solutions outlined in this report are considered alongside a range of integration best practices.

The diversity of islands of developing and developed nations offers a unique opportunity to demonstrate how deploying large amounts of intermittent renewable energy sources (RES) within smart grid architectures tailored to local energy contexts can be a cost-effective complement, and even an alternative, to current fossil-fuel solutions.

This paper, authored by Annex 4: Synthesis Insights for Decision Makers, covers the following topics:

• The energy supply challenges faced by islands
• Ways in which renewable energy technologies can improve sustainable electricity supply
• Ways in which smart grid technologies can help enable the integration of large amounts of intermittent RES
• Lessons learned from demonstration projects in islands
• The importance of island systems in the global context of clean energy systems in developing and developed countries.

Significant policy gaps exist in the field of grid cyber security, and ISGAN is well-positioned to convene stakeholders and foster discussion to advance best practices that support innovation while protecting critical infrastructure and consumer data privacy. This report, authored by Annex 4: Synthesis Insights for Decision Makers, identifies key issues in cyber security policy design, and suggests potential collaborations for the ISGAN membership.

Questions relevant for decision makers:

• What are the challenges of integrating variable RE into power grids?
• What types of smart grid solutions are emerging to integrate variable RE?
• What are good examples from around the world of smart grids aiding in the integration of variable RE?
• What types of policy and regulatory approaches are emerging to support smart grid solutions in relation to RE?
• Based on emerging case studies from around the world, this discussion paper concludes that smart grids offer solutions to various challenges associated with variable RE, including providing additional flexibility, unlocking demand side participation, and deferring more costly grid upgrades.

This report is an update of a 2012 ISGAN Annex 4 report entitled “Smart Grid Contributions to Variable Renewable Resource Integration.”

In May 2018 the project will start with data gathering and analysis of national approaches, forming a common factual basis, preparing for an interactive KTP workshop taking place in Vienna in conjunction with the ISGAN ExCo meeting.

Building upon the results of the Knowledge Transfer Project (KTP) on Public Support to Smart Grid Research, Development and Innovation in 2017, involving six ISGAN countries, a follow-up project is now about to commence that aims to dive deeper into a few of the prioritized topics identified.

It will be the 4^th KTP project within ISGAN since the concept was piloted in partnership with the Ministry of Energy (SENER) and the 21^st Century Power Partnership (21CPP) in Mexico 2016. The KTP concept emphasizes needs-based learning and sharing amongst peers and is involves highly interactive workshops as well as analytical preparatory work on part of participants.

The project primarily targets government funding agencies working on a daily basis on the design and implementation of funding programs to support smart grid development at national or regional level.

In May 2018 the project will start with data gathering and analysis of national approaches, forming a common factual basis, preparing for an interactive KTP workshop taking place 18-19 October 2018 in Vienna, Austria, in conjunction with the ISGAN ExCo meeting.

For more information about the project and how to get involved, please contact the ISGAN Secretariat at isgan(at)ait.ac.at or Magnus Olofsson, KTP lead, ISGAN Annex 2, at magnus.olofsson(at)energiinstitutet.se .

In Europe, there is a sharp increase in reserve needs for coping with the variability introduced by a steadily increasing RES share in the generation. The big challenge is to extend the possibility of providing Ancillary Services (AS) – frequency and voltage control, congestion management, etc.) to entities connected to the distribution network.
All these issues have been addressed by the SmartNet European research project (http://smartnetproject.eu/), which aimed at comparing different TSO-DSO interaction schemes and different real-time market architectures with the goal of finding out which would deliver the best compromise between costs and benefits for the system. The objective of this three-and-ahalf year project (2016-2019) was to develop an ad hoc simulation platform which models all three layers (physical network, market and ICT), analysing three national cases (Italy, Denmark, Spain).

In addition to providing information on the main results obtained by the SmartNet project, this report include some information on the status quo of the procurement of ancillary services in selected countries. A questionnaire was formulated and distributed among the members of ISGAN Annex VI. The questionnaire contained the following questions:

• What system services are provided in your country (voltage regulation, frequency regulation, inertia, support to power quality…)
• Who is providing them (generators and/or loads?)
• Modalities to collect ancillary services: via markets, contracts, compulsory non-paid services… Please describe in detail.
• Are generators and/or loads located in distribution admitted to provide system services? If yes, how is TSO-DSO interaction carried out (please describe in detail)
• Are there plans from the national regulator to activate demand side management or to collect inputs from generators connected to distribution for the future? Which timeframe? Are pilot projects already active?

The FPS Economy, SME, Self-Employed and Energy – DG Energy & EnergyVille, would like to invite you to the public workshop of the International Smart Grid Action Network (ISGAN):

Building the flexible power systems.
From analog to digital, from lorry to EV, from customers to prosumers

12 September 2017, 09:30-18:00

All over the globe, governments have set ambitious targets for the deployment of renewable energy sources. Unlocking the full flexibility potential throughout the power system is essential to enable these objectives. This ISGAN public workshop gathers world-class speakers from international organizations, public authorities, utilities and research institutes to exchange views on current and  future energy policies, to showcase best practices and to bring together experts in various technologies to come to a power system vision.

At Thor Central
Thor Park 8000
3600 Genk
Belgium

The objective of Annex 2 is to assess outstanding examples of current case studies, develop and validate a common case study template and methodological framework, and then develop in – depth case studies using this framework. The template is currently the “Case Book” to contain
descriptive information. The common frame work for case studies will allow comparison and contrast of policies and technologies adopted in different regulatory, legislative, network (grid), and natural environments. The overarching aim is to collect enough information from case studies around the world to extract lessons learned and best practices as well as foster future collaboration among participating countries. The Consumer Engagement Case Book reflects one way that ISGAN brings together experts and stakeholders from around the world to increase the awareness of consumer engagement in the field of smart grid.

Customer engagement and empowerment offers opportunities to save energy for customers and to operate the grid in a more efficient and reliable way for grid operators. Grid operators want to shift or reduce energy consumptions during times of peak consumptions, so they have  engaged and empowered customers to do that by proposing some benefits.
Cases of customer engagement and empowerment in this book share lessons learned in developing and deploying these technologies to  stakeholders.

Annex 8 of the International Smart Grids Action Network would like to invite you to participate in the upcoming webminar of the ISGAN Academy “Augmented reality applications for Smart Grids”, which will take place on December 13th, 2017.

To find out more about the webinar and to register please see the link as below.

Speakers

Dr. Fabrizio Pilo 

Dr. Matteo Troncia (UNICA)

Operating Agent and Secretariat

Responsibilities and task for the OA and secretariat are:

• Organization of bi-annual ExCo meetings, ExCo side events,
• General support of the Presidium and Annex, managing ISGAN Common Fund
• Internal communication, Website & media communication
• Supporting working groups to promote consistency for external communication

Korean Smart Grid Institute (KSGI) as Co-Secretariat is responsible for the following tasks:

• Support CEM communication and events
• ISGAN Award of Excellence Competition
• Asia Cooperation

IEA Desk Officer

ISGAN’s desk officer and point of communication with ISGAN:

If you have any difficulties in accessing any of the information on this site, please send an E-Mail to our webmaster: webmaster[at]iea-isgan.org

Energy access constitutes one of the fundamental building blocks for economic growth as well as social equity in the modern world. Access to sustainable energy is needed to achieve sustainable development. A microgrid should not be seen as a competitor to the centralized grid but as a complement.

Through examination of several implemented cases from different parts of the world the following topics are considered:

• Analysis of the interaction between centralized grids and microgrids
• Analysis of stakeholder decision parameters for electrification
• Analysis of design differences and requirements for microgrids, depending on the intended purpose and the need of the end customers

It is determined that good planning, suitable requirements and clear regulations for microgrids (in relation to centralized grids) limits the risk of stranded assets and enables better business cases for the involved stakeholders.
The paper is based on the discussion paper The role and interaction of microgrids and centralized grids in developing modern power systems – A case review publiced by ISGAN (International Smart Grid Action Network) Annex 6: Power T&D Systems.

The brochure covers on the one side the key accomplishments and the contracting parties of ISGAN but also the objective, value proposition and organizational structure of ISGAN. In particular, the brochure also provides a one-page overview of the objectives and current activities for each individual Annex.

The main objective of this report is to assess the future data exchange and ICT requirements concerning the interaction of distribution and transmission networks, by identifying key challenges that deserve attention.

This report is based on a questionnaire regarding the ICT aspects of TSO-DSO interaction. The questionnaire contained questions regarding technical aspects (e.g. technical connection points between TSO and DSO in the countries), regulatory aspects, flexibility markets, drivers and barriers for TSO-DSO interaction as well as experiences from projects and lessons learned. The questionnaire was sent to the Annex partners and nine responses were collected. In particular Belgium, Germany, Italy, Finland, Sweden, United States, China, India and Austria have sent comprehensive answers.

Due to the integration of renewable energy sources, the interaction between TSOs and DSOs gets more and more important to handle the high volatility of generation and unexpected load growth in power grids. Additionally, new market mechanisms and the connected flexibilities require a closer interaction between TSOs and DSOs.

(see also: http://www.iea-isgan.org/innogrid2020/)

The large scale influx of variable generation is a challenge for the entire power system, especially in a context where large storage possibilities still remain economically unviable. Securing network stability becomes increasingly difficult because of increased volatility and growing numbers of unscheduled flows and the importance of existing paradigms seem to be fading. The electrification of society on the other hand adds to the socio-economic impact and the political sensitivity of a disruption of power supply. Policy makers and network operators therefore look at global grid solutions to better forecast and steer power flows:

• Technological options to increase their knowledge about the real-time status of their network (e.g. WAMS) and to manage power flows (e.g. FACTS, PSTs & HVDC)
• Increased coordination with other network operators, both at the TSO and DSO level.
• Improved modelling and forecasting tools for all relevant time horizons, as well as discussing alternative safety standards in order to improve system control and network planning
• Improved market design to attract the necessary system flexibility.

We also ask the question where there are limits of conflicts in the amount of interconnections and where there could be more need for local solutions, including small scale energy innovations and local market solutions that lead to the development of smarter local grids. From an international perspective we try to critically access whether these different trends (global versus local), that both aim at enable very high penetration of renewable energy sources, are totally independent or whether there are synergies or conflicts of interest between the two.

The International Smart Grids Action Network (ISGAN) has been focusing through Annex 6 (Power Transmission and Distribution Systems) on the application of advanced technologies needed for power grids to contribute in the best way to the attainment of clean energy and climate goals. In the interactive workshop  we will disseminate the conclusions of existing ISGAN activities on these topics, have presentations and discussions on innovative developments. This workshop should thus contribute to better focus the ISGAN activities in order for them to have impact on energy policy and ensure to deliver clear and relevant policy messages.

After some impulse presentation of barriers and opportunities of hybrid energy systems, the interdisciplinary experts identified strengths & weaknesses, opportunities & threats of coupling DHC and electricity sectors in a workshop. This was including technical, political, regulative and socio-economic factors. The results were discussed on the next day during an interactive parallel breakout sessions on “Flexibility and power system interaction”.