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Characterisation of virtual power plants

The growing number of micro generation devices in the electrical network is leading many to consider that these devices can no longer be considered as fit and forget, but should instead be considered as having a demonstrable network impact which should be predicted and utilised. One of the techniques for considering the impacts of these devices is the Virtual Power Plant (VPP). The VPP is the aggregation of all the Distributed Generation (DG) connected into the network up to and including the connection voltage of the VPP, such that the cumulative power up the voltage levels can be seen in the single VPP unit, rather than across a broad spread of devices. One of the crucial tasks in characterising the VPP, developed in this work, is the ability to correctly predict and then aggregate the behaviour of several technology types which are weather driven, as a large proportion of DG is weather driven. Of this weather driven DG, some can only typically be dispatched with modification and the rest cannot be dispatched at all. The aggregation of the VPP as part of the electrical network is also developed, as the constraints of the network and the reliability of the network cannot be overlooked when considering the aggregation of the VPP. From a distribution network operator's (DNO) perspective, these characterisation models can be used to highlight problems in the network introduced by the addition of DG, but are also generally utilitarian in their role of predicting the power output (or negative load) found throughout the network due to DG. For a commercial agent interested in selling energy, these models allow for accurate predictions of energy to be determined for the trading period. A VPP agent would also be adversely affected by line failure in the network, leading to the development of an N-1 analysis based upon reliability rates of the network, which is used as the basis for a discussion on the impacts of single line failure and the mitigation available through feedback from the DNO.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:528259
Date January 2010
CreatorsNewman, Guy
ContributorsMutale, Joseph
PublisherUniversity of Manchester
Source SetsEthos UK
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Sourcehttps://www.research.manchester.ac.uk/portal/en/theses/characterisation-of-virtual-power-plants(5e647750-5a44-40f0-8a33-763361d3a50b).html

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