Situation Awareness by Simple Intuitive Traffic Light Signals for Smart Utilisation of Local Demand and Supply Flexibility

Gerald Franzl, Stefan Wilker, Nikolaos Efkarpidis and Thilo Sauter
Additional contact information
Gerald Franzl: Department for Integrated Sensor Systems, Universität für Weiterbildung Krems, Viktor Kaplan Str. 2/E, AT-2700 Wiener Neustadt, Austria
Stefan Wilker: TU Wien, Institute of Computer Technology, Gusshaus Str. 27-29/e384, AT-1040 Vienna, Austria
Nikolaos Efkarpidis: Institute of Electric Power Systems, University of Applied Sciences and Arts Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW), Klosterzelgstrasse 2, CH-5210 Windisch, Switzerland
Thilo Sauter: Department for Integrated Sensor Systems, Universität für Weiterbildung Krems, Viktor Kaplan Str. 2/E, AT-2700 Wiener Neustadt, Austria

Energies, 2022, vol. 15, issue 3, 1-21

Abstract: To realise the energy transition, every renewable source shall at least partially contribute to the demand–supply balancing, including customer-owned controllable loads and energy sources. Their commonly small size and spatial occurrence suggests addressing volatility issues locally, using local flexibilities to mitigate their impact. This calls for simple and effective signalling that enables interaction among local stakeholders, including local producers and customers. According interfaces and information formats appear to not yet exist. In this article, we propose a traffic-light-like system that enables the local grid operator to trigger situation-aware customer behaviour, supporting grid stability when needed and, in return, allowing customers to fully exploit temporary grid capacity when no safety or stability issues persist. The applied intuitive deduction method based on existing coordination mechanisms and objectives indicates, without proof, that the proposed granular traffic light system can enable the distribution grid flexibility required to facilitate more renewable energy being produced and inserted by local customers, to relieve grid levels above from transporting and equalising volatile energy shares, and to improve the economics of distributed renewable energy sources.

Keywords: smart grids; demand side management; load flexibility; traffic light system; energy transition; grid safety; supply security; distributed control; signalling systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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