Energy community markets under network constraints considering battery units integration

Abstract

The greater penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) in recent years has led to many changes in traditional low-voltage networks. As a consequence, the rapid advance of this technology has consolidated the position of prosumers, an entity that produces and consumes electricity, as an active member of many distribution networks. Among the changes that this entails, prosumers’ demands have led to the proliferation of local energy markets based on existing consumer-centric models. These market models allow trade between peers without intervention of conventional parties in transactions. This, however, implies possible violations to the technical constraints of the electricity network where such peers are located. This study aims to address, as its main objective, the subject of integrating consumer-centric markets to the existing distribution network through a series of computational simulations. To do so, a methodology was implemented in order to employ batteries in consumer-centric markets as a way to aggregate social welfare to a community and ensure that network constraints are not violated during the energy exchange. The method described focuses in sequential simulations of market optimization and distribution network power flow analysis, installing batteries in buses and lines that directly experience any constraint violation during operation. The sequential simulation starts by solving an energy market non-linear deterministic optimization problem structured using the Pyomo optimization tool. Afterwards, the sequential simulation continues with market results being used as input for the power flow using the OpenDSS distribution system simulation tool. All stages of the methodology proposed in this work were simulated in a Python based program that binds each step’s results with start of the following step. To verify this strategy, seven case studies were simulated and discussed using realistic data of prosumers energy consumption and generation while connected to a typical distribution network in Costa Rica. The results obtained point towards potential social welfare gains from installing batteries and a case-by-case analysis to preventing network violations.