Dynamic Operating Envelopes of Distribution Systems with Virtual Power Plants Under Heat and Cold Waves

The increasing integration of distributed energy resources (DERs) and the rising frequency of extreme weather events present significant challenges to the resilience of distribution systems. Virtual Power Plants (VPPs) offer a promising solution by providing the grid with flexible demand or generation support. This flexibility can be quantified by Dynamic Operating Envelopes (DOEs), which define the upper and lower power bounds of distributed assets. This paper investigates the impact of heat and cold waves on DOEs in distribution systems that incorporate VPPs. VPPs are modeled using high-fidelity, weather-dependent simulations of load and DERs to capture how extreme temperatures affect both demand and generation. Realistic weather data is used to explore how these conditions change the system conditions and then propagate to DOE results. This paper employs a modified IEEE 123-bus system to simulate heat and cold waves in King County, Washington State. Results indicate that extreme weather events decrease the DOEs and limit system flexibility. However, VPP integration enhances operational flexibility and improves resilience, although the benefits are not uniformly distributed across all nodes in the system.