Assessing the Benefits of Using Operating Envelopes to Orchestrate DERs Across Australia

Project Completed

Our Final Webinar: Using Operating Envelopes Across Australia: Findings and Recommendations (Slides)

Our Final Report: Assessing the Benefits of Using Operating Envelopes to Orchestrate DERs Across Australia

Our Latest Paper: Assessing the Pros and Cons of Different Operating Envelope Implementations Across Australia (Slides)

Distributed Energy Resources (DERs), such as solar photovoltaic (PV) systems and residential batteries, are creating opportunities for their owners to provide services to the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) through aggregators. The use of operating envelopes can help ensure the integrity of the poles and wires as the volume of DER providing services increases. However, since different distribution companies have different network and customer data availability, the calculation of operating envelopes needs also to be different.

Summary

This project will, ultimately, provide key metrics and recommendations for distribution companies (known as Distribution Network Service Providers [DNSPs] in Australia) and AEMO (the Australian system operator) to assist them in their decision-making process when defining the most suitable Operating Envelope (OE) implementations (i.e., calculation and allocation) in a given distribution area. Understanding the benefits and limitations of different OE implementations is critical if Australian DNSPs and AEMO are to pursue this approach to orchestrate and make the most of large penetrations of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs).

This 1-year project (May 2022 to Apr 2023) is funded by CSIRO and the Global Power System Transformation Consortium (G-PST).

Our Team

Technologies Involved

Smart Meters, Solar PV
High and Low Voltage Distribution Networks
Smart Grids, Data Analytics

Tools

Python ⟺ OpenDSS
GitHub

Go to Timeline

June 2023

✓ Webinar "Operating Envelopes Across Australia: Findings and Recommendations" [Slides]

April 2023 (end)

✓ Final Report and Presentation

Algorithms and data to be shared with CSIRO and AEMO

February 2023

✓ Interim Report and Presentation

Definition of key metrics, case studies, and initial simulations
Simulations, quantifications, and recommendations

September 2022

✓ Presentation of Work to Date and Work to be Undertaken

Characterisation of the spectrum of available infrastructure/data across Australian
DNSPs
Definition of the potential OE implementations (including calculation and allocation)
according to the spectrum identified

May 2022