The 9th International Conference for the Integration of Renewable & Distributed Energy Resources (IRED 2022) gathered researchers from 14 different countries to share information on state-of-the-art technologies, research, and applications. ISGAN delegates and experts played a key role.

IRED 2022 was held in Adelaide, Australia, and organized by John Ward and his team at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).

During the opening day, a session on Mission Innovation’s Green Powered Future Mission (GPFM) included ISGAN Chair Luciano Martini. ISGAN and GPFM recently signed an MOU to formalize their collaborations which will benefit members and facilitate the broader energy transition.

On Day 2, Ron Brandl, manager of ISGAN’s Smart Grid International Research Facility Network (SIRFN) introduced the importance of international research collaboration and was followed by Mihai Calin, Operating Agent of ISGAN, who hosted a panel “How Can Testing Accelerate Renewable Energy Integration?”

On the third day of IRED 2022, Austrian expert Barbara Herndler presented the results from the Working Group 6 task on DSO-TSO interaction. Finally, Matteo Troncia and Jose Pablo José Pablo Chaves from Spain won the 2022 IRED Poster Competition for their submission, “Flexibility Markets for Voltage Control in Transmission and Distribution Grids: Quantitative Assessment of a Realistic Case Study.”

IRED 2022 offered ISGAN delegates and experts the opportunity to share their knowledge and learn from outside experts and we hope the collaborations between ISGAN and IRED continue for IRED 2024. 

The regained personal interaction was particularly well utilized through a session in the World Café, during which highlights of the working groups were presented and discussed. This session encouraged close interaction between the Working Group Managers and ExCo members. ExCo members made suggestions based on their national strategies and goals on what they believe working groups should consider in their subsequent Programmes of Work.

Another session focused on ISGAN´s interaction with the IEA and other Technology Collaboration Programmes, the Mission Innovation Green Powered Future Mission, and the Clean Energy Ministerial. Indeed, one of ISGAN’s key activities is centered around engaging and cooperating with external stakeholders and initiatives to align aims, avoid overlaps, and share knowledge.

Overall, it was great to catch up with old friends and meet new experts and representatives. We’re already preparing for ExCo 25 set for March 2023 in Berlin!

IRED is a global conference gathering experts from industry, government and academia to share information on state-of-the-art technologies, research and know-how and engage in lively discussions related to the integration of renewable and distributed energy resources into power systems. The conference will focus on the technical, market, and regulatory issues that challenge the integration of these resources into the grid. For details about the event, please visit https://ired2022.com.au/

ISGAN Virtual Learning invites to this webinar that presents generic models and local control schemes of renewable energy plants for Dynamic Virtual Power Plant (DVPP) integration. This includes different power plants as wind turbines, wind farms, PV systems, biogas-, hydropower, and solar thermal power plants. The individual generating units are described in a unified model structure for local control design, simulation and the analysis of their dynamical characteristics. The derived models are intended for the integration into a higher-level control design of DVPPs.

Speakers

Stephan Kusche (HTW Berlin)
Florian Pöschke (HTW Berlin)
Horst Schulte (HTW Berlin)

Intended audience

Power plant operators, certifiers, grid operators, manufacturers of wind turbines and PV power plants, inverter manufacturers, graduate students of electrical and control engineering, control engineers and power system engineers from industry and academics

Key messages

• Presentation of physically interpretable generic models of common renewable energy power plants (RPP) such as wind turbines, photovoltaics, biogas, hydropower, and solar thermal power plants in a unified modelling framework.
• Systematic justification and description of the internal controller structure of the primary (wind, PV, solar, biogas, hydro) and secondary (synchronous machine and power electronic converters) sides of the power plant types used in the DVPP
• Straightforward performance verification of the internal control system by means of relevant test scenarios such active and reactive setpoint changes, variation of the energy source (wind, sun) of non-dispatchable plants, Grid voltage drop, Phase angle step change
• Calculation of the frequency characteristics of RPPs for DVPP design
• Discussion of the planned experimental validation in the HTW lab

Further information

https://posytyf-h2020.eu

Speakers Bio

Stephan Kusche received a Diplom degree in physical engineering and a Ph.D. in viscoelastic friction. Since then, he has worked on various control engineering tasks, such as energy optimization in process technology and modeling of renewable energy sources. His research interests include electrodynamics, continuum mechanics, and mathematical and numeric methods.

Florian Pöschke received the M. Eng. in Automation from the University of Applied Sciences HTW Berlin. He recently defended his Ph.D. at the Leuphana University Lüneburg, where his work focused on the control of wind turbines and their interaction with the electrical grid. His research interest include the dynamical modeling and control of renewable energy systems from the primary source to electrical grid connection point. Along with the application of classical approaches, his expertise lies in the treatment of nonlinear system dynamics as a convex combination of linear submodels and the subsequent control design based on linear matrix inequalities.

Horst Schulte received a degree in Electrical Engineering from TU Berlin and a Ph.D. degree in Mechanical Engineering from University Kassel (Germany). He then joined the Bosch Group (Rexroth) as a research engineer, where he worked on first principle modeling, identification, optimization, and advanced control of hydraulic pumps and motors, power systems, and drive trains. Since November 2009, he has been a full Professor at the University of Applied Sciences HTW Berlin. His research interests include nonlinear controller and observer design with Takagi-Sugeno (TS), LPV, sliding-mode techniques, robust and fault tolerant control system design. He translates these methods into industrial applications in automatic control of wind turbines and wind farms, PV power plants, the distributed control of power systems, and modeling and control of power electronic converters for sustainable power systems. He is i.e. the Chairman of the Federation of German Windpower and other Renewable Energies (FGW e.V.); Chairman of the VDI/VDE-GMA FA (Technical Committee) 5.14 Computational Intelligence; Associate Editor of the Journal ISA Transactions; Member of the IFAC Technical Committee 6.4 Fault Detection, Supervision & Safety of Techn. Processes; Vice-Chair of the IEEE CIS Task Force on “Fuzzy Systems in Renewable Energy and Smart Grids”; Member of the IEEE Control Systems Society.

Themes for ISUW 2023 Technical Paper are:

1. INDIA @ 100 in 2047: Vision for the Indian Power System
   • Net Zero Power Sector
   • Super Grids for Energy Transition
   • Role of ICT in Energy Transition
   • New Architecture of Climate and Pandemic Proof Infrastructure
2. Evolving Architecture of the 21st Century Grid with Two Way Power Flows
   • Planning And Design of Transmission Grid
   • Planning And Design of Distribution Grid with Prosumers and Electric Vehicles and Distributed Energy Resources
   • Communication Systems and Technologies for Fast Response- 1/50 (or) 1/60 Seconds
   • Separate Control Bus for IT and OT Systems
   • Climate Proofing of Future Grids
3. Electric Mobility 
   • Drones and Charging Infrastructure for Drones
   • Vehicle Grid Integration (VGI)
   • New Infrastructure Planning with Integrated EVSE
   • EVs as Virtual Power Plants (VPP)
   • Electric Highways and the Electric Grids
   • Business Models for EV Charging Stations
4. Foundational Blocks for Smart Grids
   • Learnings from Smart Grid Projects
   • Smart Microgrids for Campuses, Railway Stations, Sea Ports, Airports, Industrial Parks, Military Bases, Hotels, Hospitals, Slums, and Commercial Complexes
   • Cyber-Physical Security of the Critical Infrastructure
   • Standards and Interoperability of Equipment and Systems
   • Communication Solutions for Smart Grids and Smart Cities
   • Flexibility in Power Systems
   • Energy Storage ​Systems – Applications and Business cases
   • 250 Million Smart Meters in India – Rollout Strategies and Business Models
5. Disruptive Innovations for Utilities
   • Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning and Robotics
   • Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Mixed Reality Technologies for the Smart Grids and Smart Cities
   • Web 3.0 and Metaverse for Utilities
   • Wearable Devices
   • Blockchain Applications for Utilities
   • Robotic Process Automation (RPA) for Utilities
   • “Paper-less” and “Contact-less” Operations of Utilities
   • Digitalization, New Services and Revenue ​Streams
   • Voice of the Customer – What the Digital Customers Wants?
   • Customer Engagement Strategies and social media for Utilities​ – Customer Portal, Chat-bot, Voice-bot​
   • 5G Rollout and its Impact for Smart Grid Technologies
6. Smart Grids for Smart Cities
   • Common Automation and IT Layer for Smart City Infrastructure Domains
   • Unlocking the Value of Street Light Poles for Multiple Smart City Applications
   • Smart Home and Smart Appliances
   • Smart Grid as Anchor Infrastructure for Smart Cities
   • Smart Energy Communities
   • Distributed Generation
   • Combined Billing and Customer Care Systems for all Utilities in a Smart City
   • Common GIS Map for all Domains in a Smart City
   • Digital Twins
7. New and Emerging Technologies and Trends
   • DG Set Replacement with Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS)
   • Green Hydrogen
   • District Cooling System
   • Electric Cooking
   • Grid Interactive Buildings and Campuses
   • Urban Air Mobility Systems (UAM)
8. Regulations for the Evolving Smart Energy Systems ​
   • 100% Renewables
   • Flexibility Solutions
   • Retail Competition
   • Green Power Markets
   • Ancillary Services
9. Smart Water  
   • Smart ​Solutions for Water Production, Transmission, and Distribution
   • Smart Technologies to Address India’s Urban Water Crisis
10. Smart City Gas Distribution 
    • Solutions for Gas Transmission and Distribution Networks
11. Cyber Security for the Digitalized Grids

ISGAN Virtual Learning invites to this webinar on the findings of three and a half years experience on European R&I projects: INTERRFACE and CoordiNet. These projects have been investigating the best ways for TSO-DSO coordination with regards to flexibility procurement. The project will provide recommendations to developing flexibility markets in Europe based on the experience from the different large-scale demonstrations across Europe.

Watch the webinar recordings

Speakers

Konstantinos Kotsalos (INTERRFACE)
Sebastian Vogel (CoordiNet)
Moderates
Gianluca Lipari (OneNet)

Intended audience

Students and researchers interested in power networks, policy makers working on electricity markets, utilities, regulators, industries and consumers with the potential to provide flexibility.

Key messages

Flexibility can be an important tool for system operators to optimise the use of the grid while ensuring security of supply and accelerating the penetration of renewables in the electricty network. Improved coordination among energy stakeholders incuding TSOs, DSOs, FSPs (BSPs/BRPs) and consumers plays a fundamental role in achieving the uptake of market-based flexibility solutions as part of the energy transition. Through their extensive collaboration, the INTERRFACE and CoordiNet projects have defined a set of tools necessary to overcome the challenges faced by market stakeholders, and will present their joint recommendations for paving the way towards harmonised flexibility markets in Europe.

Further information

CoordiNet deliverables:

https://coordinet.netlify.app/publications/deliverables

INTERRFACE deliverables:

http://www.interrface.eu/public-deliverables

ISGAN Academy invites to to this webinar that addresses the question of an optimal design of a cross-voltage level network operation, which takes into account an efficient use of flexibility resources.
We invite experts from the international projects DA/RE, OneNet, Redispatch 3.0 and CoordiNet, to shed light and discuss the topic TSO-DSO-Consumer coordination in today’s power system operation.

Watch the webinar recordings

Speakers

Julia Strahlhoff (DA/RE)
Jirapa Kamsamrong (Redispatch 3.0)
Yvonne Ruwaida (CoordiNet)
Gwen Willeghems (OneNet)
Ferdinando Bosco (OneNet)
Matteo Troncia (OneNet)
Moderates
Jose Pablo Chaves Avila

Intended audience

Academia, researchers, distribution system operators, transmission system operators, engineers, flexibility providers, ISGAN working groups 3, 6 and 9.

Key messages

The presentation serves to introduce current projects on the topic of TSO-DSO coordination. To show various ways of looking at the described topic different needs for coordination will be shown and various designs of coordination are discussed.  Possible results from this are the identification of differences or similarities regarding the level at which optimization takes place as well as different assumptions on market design, access to the coordinated resources and data management.

Further information

Dare Plattform

OneNet Project

Redispatch 3.0

Coordinet Project

Energy Transition and Circular Economy-related regulations are popping up around the world. Both energy efficiency and material efficiency are to be optimised. In electrical applications it is not always apparent how a trade-off between these goals can be avoided. The sustainable peak load concept for public distribution transformers does exactly that: it is beneficial to transformer energy efficiency as well as material efficiency, with no need for compromise.

This webinar will present the concept, several case studies, a thorough transformer loading survey carried out in US and a modelling exercise for the EU.

Speakers

Angelo Baggini Aggregate professor of electrical engineering at the University of Bergamo Chairman of Cenelec TC14 Chairman of CEI TC97 Over 200 technical and scientific papers Author of PQ Handbook (2008) and Electrical Energy Efficiency (2012), both published by Wiley and Sons
Alberto Cracco Managing and Sales Director, Westrafo Srl. Graduated as a management engineer at the University of Padua MBA 16 years of experience in the transformer industry
Bruno De Wachter Free-lance engineer-copywriter and consultant with focus on the energy sector Degree in Electrical Engineering (University of Ghent) A post-master’s in European Languages and their Literature (University of Antwerp). In-house consultant and copywriter for the European Copper Institute since 2011
Phil Hopkinson President and CEO of Hvolt Inc. Life Fellow IEEE Long-time member of IEEE Transformer Committee Holder of 15 US patents Technical Adviser to the USNC for Power Transformers, IEC TC 14 56 years of experience in the transformer industry (design, engineering and management)
Fernando Nuño Clean Energy Transition Programme Manager at the European Copper Institute Leads multiple publicly funded EU Horizon projects. Energy Engineer (Bilbao) ENSPM school (France) Experience at the French Energy Regulatory Commission and in the automotive sector
Alan Sbravati Global Customers Application Manager, Cargill 20 years of experience in the US transformer industry Dozens of publications on transformers Active member of IEEE Transformer Committee

Intended audience

Policy makers, distribution system operators, utilities, electricity market regulators, academia, consultants, transformer manufacturers, transformer value chain.

Key messages

• The total annual energy losses of a sustainable peak load unit are similar to those of a conventional unit. This is due to the fact that the average loading in public distribution networks is low, resulting in a higher relative importance of no-load losses compared to load losses.
• The material savings potential of sustainable peak load transformers is substantial, with reductions in total weight of 11 – 15%.
• The purchase cost of a sustainable peak load transformer is comparable to that of a conventional transformer if all other parameters are kept the same.

Further information

https://help.leonardo-energy.org/hc/en-us/articles/4409606711570–Cu0277-Maximizing-distribution-transformer-resource-efficiency-Potential-contribution-to-EU-Green-Deal-objectives

https://www.powertransformernews.com/2021/12/13/the-sustainable-peak-load-concept-and-public-distribution-transformers/

https://ee-ip.org/en/article/integrating-energy-and-material-efficiency-in-public-distribution-transformers-6317

The demonstration led by ELES in the OSMOSE project demonstrated the possibility of cross-border flexibility activation near-to-real time while comlying with grid limitations.

The near real-time potential of flexibility of hydro producers was explored: new tools were developed and live demonstrated to estimate their remaining flexibility 15 min before delivery time.

The processes implemented resulted in a real cross-border activation thanks to a selection of bids every 5 minutes and an activation signal sent every 10 seconds.

Join the webinar: 2022-04-21 at h 13:00 CEST (UTC+2)

Speakers

Gorazd Ažman, ELES	Andrea Bello, HDE	Miran Kavrečić, HSE
Dusan Vlaisavljevic, EKC	Marilena Lazzaro, ENG	Charles Payement, RTE

Intended audience

Junior engineers; students; researchers; utilities; regulators; policymakers;

Further information

https://www.osmose-h2020.eu/ 

The Italian demo of OSMOSE project tested different kinds of flexibility solutions in a 9 month long experimentation on a real HV grid portion: one of this is the flexibility from the grid itself! By exploiting accurate load and generation forecasts and cost effective Dynamic Thermal Rating solutions, a new Energy Management System was developed in order to detect and solve efficiently congestions in a 3 hours ahead horizon.

Join the webinar: 2022-04-07 at h 13:00 CEST (UTC+1)

Speakers

• Leonardo Petrocchi (Terna)
• Giuseppe Lisciandrello (Terna)
• Dario Ronzo (RSE)
• Davide Poli (ENSIEL)
• Alfredo Vaccaro (ENSIEL)

Key messages

Capital-light investments and prediction algorhitm can enhance existing assets exploitation, becoming an efficient add-on to standard infrastructural planning of the grid.

Intended audience

TSOs, academy, industry

Further information

https://www.osmose-h2020.eu/ 

The speakers will lead you towards two demonstration activities part of the OSMOSE project concerning off-the-shelf inverters interfacing energy storage systems with the power grid that can be turned into grid-forming units through suitable control upgrades in order to provide several services to the power system when it hosts massive amount of inverter-based renewable/stochastic generation. This is achieved thanks to the provision of synchronisation services superposed to classic regulation ones.

Join the webinar: 2022-04-05 at h 13:00 CEST (UTC+1)

Speakers

Carmen Cardozo (RTE R&D)	Mario Paolone (EPFL)	Markel Zubiaga (Ingeteam R&D)

Key messages

Within the context of service provision to future power systems hosting massive amount of inverter-based renewable/stochastic generation, 2 demonstrators have shown that grid forming capability can be provided from off-the-shelf equipment. One demonstration is based on a existing MW-class BESS connected to the medium voltage grid of the EPFL campus, while the other was built for the OSMOSE project by Ingeteam and connecter to the RTE network.

• Both demos proved that grid forming capability can be provided without hardware oversizing, drawing out the most of existing equipment and therefore limiting the cost.
• A hybrid system showed that supercapacitors installed on the DC side can handled all fast transients induced by grid forming control, therefore smoothing the battery output power.
• The controls have been improved to behave properly in different grid conditions including harmonics and unbalanced conditions.
• Multiservices provision can be done including grid forming capability taking into account the unit’s operational constraints.
• Accurate distribution-class PMUs can be used to assess the performance of grid forming vs grid following units.

Intended audience

This webinar is mainly suitable for transmission system operators (TSO), energy providers, converter manufacturers and researchers in the field of power electronics and/or power systems stability and control. The content of the webinar is also comprehensible for students and engineers with some background in the power systems dynamics.

Further information

https://www.osmose-h2020.eu/ 

Register now for the 8th edition of ISUW22 !

ISUW 2022 has been scheduled from 01 – 05 March 2022, an International Conference and Exhibition on Smart Energy and Mobility for Smarter Cities.

The Exhibition Booths at ISUW 2022 will offer never before experience to exhibitors and visitors. ISUW 2022 will bring together India’s leading Electricity, Gas and Water Utilities, Policy Makers, Regulators, Investors and world’s top- notch Smart Energy Experts and Researchers to discuss trends, share best practices and showcase next generation technologies and products in smart energy and smart cities domains. ISUW 2022 will include plenaries, interactive workshops, keynotes, technical sessions and technical paper presentations. Bi-lateral Smart Grid workshop with EU, USA, Switzerland, Sweden, France, Canada are also expected to be a part of the upcoming edition.

For more details about ISUW 2022, please visit www.isuw.in.

IEC standards are essential to ensure a successful industrial uptake of innovative smart grid solutions, however further research and innovation are requested in order to develop standardized descriptions of innovative components.

This webinar introduces the activities performed in the OSMOSE project regarding the engineering process and the functional tests performed on a dedicated demonstrator, based on the international standard IEC 61850.  It addresses in particular the following questions aspects:

• Engineering process: configuration of the system, having devices from different manufacturers
• Results of functional tests: validation of the system configuration.

Join the webinar: 2022-01-28 at h 13:00 CET (UTC+1)

Speakers

Thomas Sterckx	Camille Bloch	Christoph Brunner	João Saragoça	Jörg Reuter

Key messages

IEC standards are essential to ensure a successful industrial uptake of innovative smart grid solutions, however further research and innovation actions are requested in order to to develop standardized descriptions of innovative components.

The proposed webinar describe the activities performed by OSMOSE partners during the engineering process and functional tests performed in WP7.1 and the contributions that these activities had provided to the development of IEC 61850 standards.

Intended audience

Very large audience from TSO, to DSO, DER project developers, components manufacturers and selected and invited external stakeholders (e.g.: ENTSO-E; T&D Europe, etc.)

Readings

1. Related web page on project website: www.osmose-h2020.eu/project-overview/wp7/
2. Deliverable link: https://www.osmose-h2020.eu/download/d7-1-iec61850-entso-e-profile-introduction-and-engineering-process-refinement/