Renewable Energy Communities Virtual Islanding: A Novel Service for Smart Distribution Networks

The needs to actuate a sustainable energy transition is pushing the electricity system and its operators to define new strategies and solutions to make the energy system more flexible and resilient, and to include a bigger share of renewable energy sources. This paper proposes a novel flexibilization service for the distribution system exploiting the capabilities of Renewable Energy Communities through the concept of Virtual Islanding operation. This new paradigm can ease the sustainable energy transition of distribution system, making them keener to accommodate larger shares of renewable sources in the grid. The concept of Virtual Islanding is described in the paper and a methodology to assess its benefits in electricity distribution networks is proposed. The effectiveness of Renewable Energy Communities Virtual Islanding operation is assessed in a simplified distribution system layout with massive penetration of RES, highlighting the benefits both from a technical and sustainability viewpoint.