Enhancing Grid-Interactive Facilities Flexibility Through a Hierarchical DERMS Control Framework: Local and Aggregator-Level Resource Optimization for Grid Services Provision

This paper presents a novel hierarchical control system, combining Aggregator DERMS (A-DERMS) and Local DERMS (L-DERMS), to enhance the flexibility of grid-interactive facilities and facilitate their ability to provide grid services to distribution and transmission system networks. The proposed method optimizes the utilization of various Distributed Energy Resources (DER) types, while satisfying service requirements, ensuring customer comfort, and reducing energy bills. The local controller employs a Model Predictive Control (MPC) algorithm for look-ahead control of available DERs over a 24-hour planning horizon. The hierarchical architecture enables aggregators to manage and dispatch DERs optimally, considering constraints and availability from the L-DERMS level. The proposed method not only enhances grid stability but also offers customer benefits by reducing energy costs and maintaining comfort levels. The paper provides a comprehensive problem formulation for both L-DERMS and A-DERMS optimization objectives and presents simulation results to demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method in various scenarios.