Manual Frequency Restoration Reserve Activation Clearing Model

The integration of the European markets has started with the successful coupling of spot markets (day-ahead and intra-day) and is expected to continue with the coupling of balancing markets. In this paper, the optimization model for the activation of manual frequency restoration reserve (mFRR) is presented. The model incorporates all order types agreed among the European transmission system operators (TSOs) to be included in the Manually Activated Reserves Initiative (MARI) project. Additionally, the model incorporates the buying curve (demand) of mFRR with the possible tolerance band defined by the TSOs, order clearing constraints and the cross-zonal capacity (CZC) constraints, forming a mixed integer linear programming model. The methodology employs two distinct steps: In the first step, an order conversion process is employed for the markets applying the central-scheduling scheme, and in the second step, the mFRR activation process is executed by solving the presented model. The whole process is tested using a case, including twenty-five European control areas. The attained clearing results indicate that price convergence is achieved among the involved control areas, along with a reduction in the overall balancing costs mainly due to the imbalance netting that is implicitly performed during the joint mFRR balancing energy (BE) clearing process and due to the cross-border exchange of mFRR BE.

A Blockchain-Based Configuration for Balancing the Electricity Grid with Distributed Assets

This paper explores a future perspective to foster the provision of balancing services to the electricity grid by distributed assets. One recent test case, initiated by the Dutch Transmission System Operator (TSO), was to operate an Electric Vehicle (EV) fleet on the automatic Frequency Restoration Reserve (aFRR) market, which entails fast and automated reserves. To achieve that in a decentralised, automated and transparent manner, the role of blockchain technology for this specific application is explored. We propose a novel configuration that can serve as a basis for deploying distributed assets for aFRR markets using blockchain or any alternative Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT). Automation can be achieved via the deployment of smart contracts, which also results in transparency in the system. The blockchain configurations are designed for three phases in the aFRR market, namely: (i) Operational planning and scheduling by a balancing service provider (i.e., formulation and submission of aFRR bid), (ii) Real-time operations (i.e., activation and measurements), and (iii) Verification and settlement (i.e., imbalance correction and financial settlement). The paper concludes that the scalability of distributed assets that can participate in the system, combined with the large transaction times and energy consumption of some consensus mechanisms, could put limitations on the proposed architecture. Future research should address benchmarking studies of other alternatives (e.g., DLTs, such as the ones based on directed acyclic graphs, and non-DLT solutions) with the proposed blockchain solution.

Evaluation of the Effects of Smart Charging Strategies and Frequency Restoration Reserves Market Participation of an Electric Vehicle

The emergence of electric vehicles offers the opportunity to decarbonize the transportation and mobility sector. With smart charging strategies and the use of electricity generated from renewable sources, electric vehicle owners can reduce their electricity bill as well as reduce their carbon footprint. We investigated smart charging strategies for electric vehicle charging at household and workplace sites with photovoltaic systems. Furthermore, we investigated the participation of an electric vehicle in the provision of positive automatic frequency restoration reserve (aFRR) in Germany from 30 October 2018 to 31 July 2019. We find that the provision of positive aFRR in Germany returns a positive net return. The positive net return is, however, not sufficient to cover the current investment cost for a necessary control unit. For home charging, we find that self-sufficiency rates of up to 48.1% and an electricity cost reduction of 17.6% for one year can be reached with unidirectional smart charging strategies. With bidirectional strategies, self-sufficiency rates of up to 56.7% for home charging and electricity cost reductions of up to 26.1% are reached. We also find that electric vehicle (EV) owners who can charge at their workplace can reduce their electricity cost further. The impact of smart charging strategies on battery aging is also discussed.