Bi-Level Mechanism for Decentralized Coordination of Internet Data Centers and Energy Communities in Local Congestion Management Markets

This paper introduces a bi-level decentralized model for organizing the Local Congestion Management Market (LCMM) in renewable-based distribution systems with the active participation of Energy Communities (ECs) and Internet Data Centers (IDCs). At the upper level, the distribution system operator (DSO) tackles an optimization problem to identify congested lines considering network security constraints and clearing results of the Day-Ahead Energy Market (DAEM). The lower level encompasses strategic planning from ECs and IDCs, aimed at capitalizing on the opportunities offered by the LCCM. ECs have dispatchable and non-dispatchable generation units, along with flexible loads and storage systems (SSs). On the other hand, IDCs have shiftable loads and are also equipped with a cloud system through which they can share their services with each other. Finally, an adaptive Alternating Direction Method of Multipliers (ADMM) algorithm is introduced to ensure decentralized coordination among ECs, IDCs, and DSO. Simulation results underscore that the proposed mechanism safeguards stakeholders’ privacy and effectively supplies a notable portion of the flexible capacities needed to mitigate network congestion, replacing costly thermal units via contributions from ECs and IDCs. Consequently, this leads to a 61.05% reduction in LCMM costs.