Flexibility Sources for Local Distribution Operators

This paper proposes an integrated framework that unifies many flexibility sources within the context of local distribution operators (LDOs) that are ranging from single-node to multi-node operators. The proposed framework aids the operators in recognizing flexibility sources within a given system application by decomposing a generic power flow-based model into semantically meaningful blocks. Further, these building blocks are considered as constructs that can be used to put together a community with flexibility maximized with respect to the desired objectives and applications. To reveal the effectiveness of the proposed framework, a test 6-node system with a given flexibility vector is implemented. The simulation results show that the operator is capable of cutting its operation cost by $\sim 21$% by co-optimizing the schedules of potential flexibility sources without sacrificing the customers’ comfort.