Model-Free Operating Envelopes at NMI Level

Project Completed

Our Final Webinar: Going Model-Free: The Future of Flexible Export Limits (Slides)

Our Final Report: Model-Free Operating Envelopes

Our Latest Paper: From Model-Driven to Model-Free: Comparisons using Real Smart Meter Data and Real Distribution Network from Australia Study

Distribution companies (who manage the poles and wires) struggle to have accurate and up-to-date electrical models of their residential areas, known as low voltage (LV) circuits. And without electrical models, it is hard to do what-if calculations for solar PV, electric vehicles, etc. Taking advantage of historical smart meter data, this project will demonstrate that is possible to capture the physics of three-phase LV circuits and create a model-free approach to calculate voltages.

Summary

This project will provide the technical foundations for distribution companies to carry out voltage calculations without employing electrical models of low voltage (LV) circuits but, instead, exploiting primarily historical smart meter data. These model-free calculations can be used to estimate the maximum power exports or imports of individual customers (also known as operating envelopes) as well as to assess the impacts (or hosting capacity) of residential solar PV or electric vehicles.

This 2-year project (Jul 2021 to Jul 2023) is funded by the Centre for New Energy Technologies (C4NET) and involves the Australian distribution companies AusNet Services, Jemena, CitiPower & Powercor, and United Energy.

Our Team

Technologies Involved

Smart Meters, Solar PV
High and Low Voltage Distribution Networks
Machine Learning, Neural Networks, Data Analytics

Tools

Go to Timeline

Sep 2023

✓ Webinar "Going Model-Free: The Future of Flexible Export Limits" (Slides)

Aug 2023

✓ Final Report: Model-Free Operating Envelopes

July 2023 (End)

✓ Milestone 4. Report and Workshop with the distribution companies.

Requirements for the extension of the methodology, as well as potential limitations, to produce a single NN that covers multiple LV circuits at once.

February 2023

✓ Webinar "Model-Free DER Hosting Capacity and Operating Envelopes: Project Update" (Slides)

January 2023

✓ Milestone 3. Report and Workshop with the distribution companies.

Deliverables 3b-4: Improved Model-Free Operating Envelopes and Other Considerations
(Second half) Different, practical operating envelope algorithms based on different objective functions.
Adaptation of operating envelope algorithms to consider the control of voltage regulation devices.

July 2022

✓ Milestone 2. Report and Workshop with the distribution companies.

Deliverables 1-2-3a "Model-Free Voltage Calculations and Operating Envelopes"
Specifications of the most suitable granularity of historical smart meter data as well as the amount of data required to achieve adequate accuracies per LV circuit.
A generic methodology to produce each Neural Network (NN) per LV circuit in a way that can be applied at scale to all types and sizes of LV circuit.
(First half) Different, practical operating envelope algorithms based on different objective functions.

May 2022