A Flexibility Platform for Managing Outages and Ensuring the Power System’s Resilience during Extreme Weather Conditions

Abstract

It is challenging for the European power system to exactly predict RES output and match energy production with demand due to changes in wind and sun intensity and the unavoidable disruptions caused by severe weather conditions. Therefore, in order to address the so-called “flexibility challenge” and implement the variable RES production, the European Union needs flexible solutions. In order to accommodate quicker reactions, compared to those performed today, and the adaptive exploitation of flexibility, grid operators must adjust their operational business model, as the electrical grid transitions from a fully centralized to a largely decentralized system. OneNet aspires to complete this crucial step by setting up a new generation of grid services that can fully utilize distributed generation, storage, and demand responses while also guaranteeing fair, open, and transparent conditions for the consumer. Using AI methods and a cloud-computing approach, the current work anticipates that active management of the power system for TSO–DSO coordination will be improved by the web-based client-server application F-channel. In the current work, a user’s experience with the platform for a Business Use Case (BUC) under the scenario of severe weather conditions is presented. The current work aims to increase the reliability of outage and maintenance plans for the system operators (SOs) by granting them a more accurate insight into the conditions under which the system may be forced to operate in the upcoming period and the challenges that it might face based on those conditions. In this way, the methodology applied in this case could, via AI-driven data exchange and analyses, help SOs change the maintenance and outage plans so the potential grave consequences for the system can be avoided. The SOs will have accurate forecasts of the relevant weather parameters at their disposal that will be used in order to achieve the set targets. The main results of the presented work are that it has a major contribution to the optimal allocation of the available resources, ensures the voltage and frequency stability of the system, and provides an early warning for hazardous power system regimes.