Simulating hierarchical structures of the distribution network

Coordinating thousands of customer-side resources first means deciding how the network is divided up in order to be managed. Group by neighbourhood, by feeder, by behavioural affinity? How many nodes should carry decision-making capacity, and which ones? These choices come before the market mechanisms and constrain them: a poorly divided structure makes coordination expensive whatever the algorithm.

This project structures the distribution network as a grouping of cells with differing degrees of autonomy — energetic, economic and operational — and simulates the corresponding management topologies. The grid operator gains a way to assess, before any deployment, what aggregates and coalitions are worth in its planning, and a way to test scenarios of gradual growth in network complexity as the number of decision-capable nodes rises.

Main objective

Simulate and assess hierarchical management topologies for the distribution network, in order to estimate the potential of aggregates and coalitions in the grid operator's planning.

Methodology

Structuring the network into cells with distinct energetic, economic and operational autonomy; building a co-simulation environment coupling the power network and the communication network; simulating candidate management topologies; assessing scenarios of gradual growth in complexity, measured by the number of decision-capable nodes.