Proposing a frequency based real-time energy market and economic dispatch strategy

Abstract

Smart grid technology and the Energy Internet are reliant on a new, competitive, deregulated energy market, that supports energy transactions among energy players: utilities, consumers, and prosumers, alike. Such an energy market is being developed to ensure grid reliability, health, and economic operation with the emergence of microgrids, distributed renewable generation, Distributed Energy Storage Devices (DESDs), controllable loads, and Energy Cells. The solid-state transformer (SST) presents a new opportunity to regulate power flow from Energy Cells to the grid in real-time. As the proposed Energy Router of the smart grid, the SST will facilitate energy transactions as an intelligent node, providing communication, frequency and power management. In this work, a frequency based real-time energy market is proposed. Here, it is demonstrated that the grid frequency is a real-time price signal (measured by the SST) which can be used to autonomously calculate the real-time energy price for all energy players, reducing the need to establish complicated networks to determine the market clearing price. In addition to providing a real-time price, frequency based pricing increases grid reliability as energy players respond to frequency deviations and provide frequency regulation as an ancillary service. A simulation was designed to respond to the steady-state frequency deviation in five minute intervals. A pricing curve and DESD response curve were designed to identify key parameters and solve for optimal solutions that benefit energy producers and consumers.