The Scheduling of Operations in a Competitive Local Energy Market Under Constraints of Flexibility

In the past years, with the change of distribution networks from passive to active, the structures of electrical energy trading in these networks have changed. These changes have led to the creation of new electricity energy retail markets called the local energy market. The provision of this opportunity to private energy owners, such as virtual power plants, within the local energy market, allows them to operate within a competitive framework and potentially assume the role of price makers. This article presents an analysis of the impact of flexible operation of distribution networks, including the financial and technical management of DISCO, in the context of a competitive local energy market. The analysis of the results has been conducted on a typical IEEE 33-bus test network is utilized in this study, which incorporates three Virtual Power Plants. The results obtained from the study indicate that the introduction of flexibility in the day-ahead time horizon within the distribution network leads to a 20% rise in costs, which the Independent System Operator (ISO) is mandated to pay to the Distribution System Operator (DISCO).