Optimal Re-Dispatch and Reactive Power Management in the Fuerteventura-Lanzarote Grid Using Real-Time Optimization in the Loop

This paper proposes a loop-based optimization framework for reactive power management and re-dispatch driven by the exceeding of technical constraints. The proposed setup calculates and updates the setpoints of power plant controllers in real time while minimizing power losses and re-dispatch costs and ensuring a stable operation in steady-state. For this purpose, we introduce RTOLab, Real-Time Optimization Laboratory, a real-time (RT) Hardware-in-the-Loop (HIL) simulation setup designed to test and validate grid management strategies based on real-time optimization in the loop. RTOLab enables the analysis of the interaction between high-level management strategies, which are based on optimization algorithms, and low-level controls pertaining to each asset of the grid. Drawing on the capabilities of RTOLab, this paper explores the reactive power sharing problem by proposing a centralized strategy. This scheme prioritizes minimizing both active power losses and re-dispatch costs updating the active power setpoints of an Energy Management System (EMS) or market clearing result. The performance of the proposed framework is analyzed through a one-hour simulation in the isolated grid of Fuerteventura-Lanzarote islands in the canary archipelago.