Synthetic representation of flexibility from aggregated LV Distributed Energy Resources

The EU plan for the climate-friendly economy transition requires the increase of renewable generation and electrification of end uses of energy. High shares of new renewable generation are and will be even more connected to the distribution networks through the so-called Distributed Generation (DG). MV and LV networks are not designed and conceived for hosting significant shares of generation. Issues with generation are accrued because, at the distribution level, power generation is based on nonprogrammable renewable energy sources that make distribution planning and operation more challenging. The use of flexibility from distributed energy resources (DER) can help face new distribution issues but, conversely, it reduces the amount of flexibility available for the power system. In the paper, a methodology for assessing the share between the flexibility used by the LV system and the residual flexibility available for other uses is presented. It has been assumed that the LV networks are equipped with an energy management system to assess the flexibility needed and available. The energy management system is a multi-agent system capable of handling the small resources' flexibility with a master-client scheme that mimics a possible aggregator-client link. An exemplary Italian LV distribution network is used to test the procedure.