Energy Management for Distribution Networks Through Capacity Constrained State Optimization

The widespread installation of distributed energy resources and demand side management resources into the distribution system has the potential to lead its operational parameters outside of their allowable limits. A standard strategy would be to increase the capacity of the network, however, this is costly. A cost-effective strategy could be to improve the management of such a system by improving the determination of its actual capacity. Recent advances in ICT equipment make it appear possible to manage the critical loading conditions instead of increasing capacity of the network. Thus, an energy management system is required to perform that function during the critical loading. In this paper, the authors present an approach for controlling network-oriented energy management systems on a distribution network using network capacity constraints. The proposed approach has been formulated in terms of linear inequality constraints. These constraints are derived from the functional relationships between an arbitrary set of control variables and an extensive variety of constrainable operational variables. The feasibility of the proposed constrained generation is demonstrated using linear programming, which performs the state optimization that already permits the usage of an extensive variety of cost functions. The significant feature of this approach is that it is flexible in terms of both constraint parameters and control variables. The proposed approach is demonstrated using an IEEE 13 bus distribution system.