Power flow tracing validation based on digital signal processing techniques

There is a growing interest of prosumers to engage in energy markets. Transparent and fair participation in transactive energy markets would require power flow tracing (PFT) analysis to assess the feasibility of the transaction, consider the losses incurred and explore if charges for utilisation of assets in the distribution network would be justified. Most PFT methods are based on the proportional sharing principle (PSP) which has not been proved nor disproved so far. In this paper we introduce the experiments carried out to validate the PSP and support PFT by means of digital signal processing techniques (DSP). The approach consisting of a non-stationary disturbance induced on one of the incoming flows into a node and tracing the perturbances in the outflows by means of discrete wavelet transform (DWT) is presented. Over 180 tests were performed in a microgrid with different grid forming and grid following sources including synchronous and asynchronous generators and inverter-based resources. The preliminary results using DWT are promising, yielding to an easy identification of the disturbing events. The amount of data gathered will also serve to analyse the behavior of grid forming and grid following sources exposed to dynamic load changes, and to evaluate the usage of DSP techniques for power quality analysis in microgrids as well.