The energy transition will abruptly increase the renewable energy supply and electric load demand. Electrification of heating with heat pumps (HPs) and of the transportation sector with electric vehicles (EVs), as well as higher distributed generation (e.g PVs) will play an essential role in energy transition success.

High uncontrolled penetrations of EVs, HPs and PVs (low-carbon technologies LCTs) can provoke several grid impact issues, such as transformers and lines over-loading and severe node voltage deviations. On the contrary, utilizing their flexibility with energy storage systems (ESSs) within a coordinated control system can minimize their grid impact and needed grid investments, increase cost savings and penetration level. Moreover, ancillary services can be provided to the system operation (SO), such as frequency regulation, congestion management, etc. The first part of this Ph.D. dissertation aims to identify and quantify the future grid impact of the high uncontrolled penetrations of the LCTs above and motivates the rest of the research. In the second part, a grid-level coordinated control is developed, which intends to optimize the grid operation in terms of power dispatch, ancillary services provision to the SO, energy storage utilization and component degradation.

PhD Student: Nikos Damianakis
Supervisors: Dr.ir. Gautham Ram Chandra Mouli, Prof. Pavol Bauer

About the NEON Project:
“Accelerating the Transition to Sustainable Energy and Mobility”

NEON is an ongoing research project, funded by the Dutch Research Council (NWO). NEON addresses three interrelated societal challenges: climate action, renewable energy, and intelligent green transport. The main target of NEON is to aid the Netherlands in achieving the goal of keeping global warming below 2℃ relative to preindustrial levels, as pledged in the “Paris Agreement” by 197 different nations on December 2015.

NEON project comprises several work packages, integrating many aspects of the energy transition, such as energy supply, energy demand, electric mobility & charging, governance, and societal values in one integral model. This presentation is a part of the PhD topic “Coordinated Power Control in future Sustainable DC Power Grid” of the researcher Damianakis Nikolaos, which belongs to the NEON project’s work package “Energy Transport”. The goal of this PhD research is to manage energy transition’s grid impact using coordinated control of Renewable Energy Sources, “Smart” Loads & Energy Storage in future DC Distribution.