Issue 3 / 2015

Increasing the penetration of renewable energy sources in the distribution grid by developing control strategies and using ancillary services.

Dear readers,

The FP7 project INCREASE (Increasing the penetration of renewable energy sources in the distribution grid by developing control strategies and using ancillary services) was initiated in September 2013. The project duration is 40 months, the project focuses on how to manage renewable energy sources in LV and MV networks and provide ancillary services (towards DSOs but also TSOs). More information is available at: http://www.project-increase.eu.

This newsletter will not only give you information about ongoing initiatives, past and upcoming events but also an overview of the project results.

With best regards,
The INCREASE dissemination team

INCREASE explained in one minute!

INCREASE - Overview of our first results and ongoing work

INCREASE lab tests started

From autumn 2015 onwards, the INCREASE lab tests have simultaneously begun in both locations: in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, and in Kortrijk, Belgium.

In Eindhoven the overlaying control strategy is being tested using the Soladin 3000 Mastervolt inverters.

The INCREASE inverter is being tested in the lab in Kortrijk. In these lab tests the programmable power source will be used. A radial topology (most common in Low Voltage feeders) will be used. For the voltage unbalance mitigation case a total load of 12 kW will be connected. The loads of 3kW will be connected to nodes 1, 4, 6 and 8, all connected to the phases as to create unbalance.

Read more about the lab tests in Kortrijk...

INCREASE AS and Value Analysis Methodology

Since the beginning of 2015 the INCREASE partners University of Ljubljana and Joanneum Research are developing market-based concepts for successful value creation with the INCREASE solutions within WP5 (Market mechanisms and regulatory framework for ancillary services).

Their joint report on the common definition of Ancillary Services in the Transmission system and in the Distribution system provides definitions of Ancillary Services, as well as a description of the value analysis methodology and the accompanying Value Analysis Tool that they have developed in INCREASE. This tool will be used to analyze the value provided by the INCREASE Ancillary Services (AS) to the stakeholders via various business cases.

Read more about this developed methodology...

The INCREASE simulation platform explained

Within INCREASE, a supporting simulation platform has been developed, allowing for the design, analysis, and optimization of the developed INCREASE solutions. This simulation platform is a valuable tool for the DSOs in order to investigate the influence of DRES in their distribution grids, implementing either the INCREASE proposed solutions or any other similar control scheme.

Three reports have been written about the simulation platform. The first one presents the platform and describes the results of the incorporation of the INCREASE local control. The other two reports describe the overlaying control and the communication network simulator incorporated in the INCREASE simulation platform.

Read more about the INCREASE simulation platform and its results...

First results of the Lemcko lab tests

The first results of the lab tests at the Lemcko laboratory are already available. In the experimental validation, three test cases were carried out: (1) a case without the inverters and only with loads, (2) a case where the inverters were equipped with a classical positive-sequence (PS) control, and (3) a case where the inverters were equipped with the INCREASE Local Control strategy.

Read more about the first results of these tests...

INCREASE papers

INCREASE papers presented at IEEE PowerTech 2015

Three partners presented an INCREASE paper at this year's PowerTech Conference in Eindhoven. The following papers were presented there: "Fair power curtailment of distributed renewable energy sources to mitigate overvoltages in low-voltage networks", "A simulation tool for extended distribution grids with controlled distributed generation", and "Policy framework conditions for provision of ancillary services in a distribution network by distributed RES generation".

Read more about these publications...

Overview of the INCREASE journal publications

Six journal papers have been published during the past year and one is still under review. These papers have been published in high-ranking scientific journals: three papers in the Electric Power Systems Research Journal, one in the International Journal of Electrical Power and Energy Systems, one in the IEEE Transactions on Power Systems and one in Energies.

Read more about these papers...

INCREASE meetings and presentations during the past 6 months

In September 2015 there was an INCREASE project meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece. During this meeting the main focus was on the general project progress of all WPs. In July two important INCREASE events took place: the INCREASE mid-term Conference in Eindhoven (the Netherlands) and the 1st INCREASE summer school in Ghent (Belgium).

Two technical workshops were also organized the last couple of months. The first was as an extension of the Ghent summer school, focusing on the "Grid-interactive solutions". The second workshop was organized in Thessaloniki in September 2015. This workshop's theme was the development of new tools and methods for DSOs and TSOs for the future smart grids. Over 60 people attended this workshop.

Apart from the PowerTech 2015 Conference in June in Eindhoven (the Netherlands), the INCREASE solutions were also presented at the CIRED 2015 Conference in June in Lyon (France), the CoSSMic Smart Energy Workshop in Konstanz (Germany) and the UPEC 2015 Conference in September in Staffordshire (UK).

In October 2015 the INCREASE project was presented at the IGREENGrid workshop in Bilbao and in December 2015 at the Zagreb Energy Conference in Zagreb (Croatia). The INCREASE project partners also participated in the DREAM Winter School in December 2015 in Grenoble (France), organized by one of the INCREASE’s EU funded twin projects, presenting the INCREASE control solutions.

Upcoming events

Check our events webpage for more events