The German demonstrator of Avacon, located in a rural area between Helmstedt and Salzgitter (central Germany) manages a centralized platform of flexibilities and distributed energy resources to use energy where it is generated in order to relieve the distribution grid.
Avacon is looking to address 3 main Use Cases in their demo. For all Use Cases Avacon will work with up to 200 private pilot customers in the Region of Lüneburg.
AVACON is developing a new technology – the “Smart Grid Hub” –which makes the communication and coordination tasks feasible, but also makes possible to optimize interactions between the various involved players.
The Smart Grid Hub is a technology that is supposed to work with any smart meter infrastructure, provided that it complies with EU-recommendations. It therefore accelerates the automation of network operations while being adaptable to any flexibility situation.
3 MAIN USE CASES
Feed-In Management
In cases where system stability is at risk grid operators in Germany are allowed to curtail the feed in from renewable generators as a last resort to avoid equipment overload and system collapse. In use case 1 Avacon will employ the Smart Grid Hub to test new strategies for a more efficient and effective curtailment of renewable feed in. The goal is to minimize the number and duration of interventions and to increase transparency and reliability.
Increase DER hosting capacity in MV networks by volt-var control
Just like in Use Case 1 grid operators could likewise control flexible loads in order to avoid equipment overload. Instead of curtailing a local surplus of renewable energy customers might increase their momentary consumption for a while. This way local renewable generation could be used for heating instead of being curtailed. In a second but less likely scenario a grid might also be at risk of consumption overload – in such scenarios the grid operator might limit local consumption for a the duration of the critical situation.
Ancillary services
By combining Use Case 1 and Use Case 2 Avacon will aggregate decentralized generators and flexible residential loads to a large virtual source of flexibility which can provide a positive or negative change in power. This source of flexibility can then be used to balance out the load on specific feeders or even be offered to other market players, like TSOs, in order to support system operation and stability.
