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Analyzing the Integration of Distributed Generation into Smart Grids

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DOI: 10.1109/ICIEA.2015.7334211

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Analyzing the Integration of Distributed Generation
into Smart Grids
Syed Ali Abbas Kazmi1 , Syed Faraz Hasan2 and Dong-Ryeol Shin1
1
College of Information and Communication Engineering
Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, South Korea
Email: {kazmi, drshin}@skku.edu
2
School of Engineering and Advanced Technology
Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
Email: [email protected]

Abstract—The next generation smart grids aim at revolution- in place throughout the electrical network. The information
izing the traditional grid by introducing new features, concepts collected by these sensors can give the true picture of the
and services. One of these new features is the ability to connect a current system state (in terms of parameters like system
small-scale generation unit directly on the distribution network.
This kind of power generation has been referred to as Distributed stability, etc). This information is useful in predicting faults
Generation (DG). This paper looks at a variety of issues concern- in sensitive areas as well as in planning and overall operation
ing the integration of DG units with the smart grid. This paper of the grid. A quick overview of the services of traditional
indicates the benefits provided by this integration and highlights and smart grids has been given in Figure 1. It is obvious that
important design issues that are highly relevant. It also examines smart grid facilitates self-monitoring and helps in achieving a
the services that are essential for effective DG integration.
Index Terms—Distributed Generation, DG integration, Smart
self-healing system [4, 5].
Grids, Traditional Grids. Another key difference between smart and traditional grids
is that the former allows bidirectional flow of power (and
I. I NTRODUCTION information) over the network. On the other hand, in traditional
grids, power always flows in one direction i.e. towards the
The term electrical grid refers to a hierarchical network load. In smart grids, power flows away from the load with the
of power generation, and its transmission and distribution. It Distributed Generation (DG). DG is the concept of generating
encompasses all machines and key enablers that are involved electric power by installing small scale power generators
in these three processes. The traditional grids (TGs) that are directly on the distribution network. The main advantage of
in common use today were designed almost a century ago. deploying DG units is that they increase power quality and
The power generation in TG follows a centralized approach reliability for the consumers. The introduction of DG units has
in which large power generators reside at the center, and brought about several new concepts related to power system.
collectively feed loads of industrial, commercial and domestic For example, the so-called microgrid (MG) has recently at-
nature. Typically, the industrial loads are much heavier than the tracted considerable research attention. As the name indicates,
commercial and domestic loads. The power produced by the an MG is a set of small-scale generating, transmitting and
generators is transported to the these loads via the transmission consuming devices that can work alongside the main grid.
and distribution networks. Thus, the entire power system relies Typically, an MG is a self-sustained power system which
on the bulk power produced by the central generators, which allows on-site generation and utilization of electric power.
is stepped up and transmitted over high-voltage transmission Upon sensing a fault in the main power grid, MG can even
network. These transmission lines terminate at the distribution isolate itself from the rest of the network [6]. A wind turbine
network, where the transmitted power is stepped down and placed on the roof-top of a commercial organization that caters
finally delivered to the consumers [1, 2]. of the entire load in that building is a good example of an
The smart grid (SG), on the other hand, is the next gener- independent MG. If and when needed, this MG can supply
ation of the legacy electrical power grid that accommodates extra power to the main grid.
more advanced features and services [1]. The smart gird has In addition to MG, several other concepts have also emerged
been recently proposed to replace the traditional grid. The like the Virtual Power Plant (VPP) and Electrical Vehicles
innovative applications and smart utilization of the available (EV). VPP comprises of large number of DGs, connected and
power resources make smart grid an intelligent network of controlled by a central control system [7]. An EV, on the other
electricity for the future. The ability of smart grids to adapt hand, is an ordinary vehicle that is electrically charged via the
to any sudden changes in the operating conditions makes distribution network. This charging is typically done during
them a more robust solution [3]. Smart grids differ from low demand periods. It has been proposed that during the times
the traditional grids in several aspects. The former envisages of high demand, EVs can send their stored electricity to the
having a network of sensors and smart metering mechanism main grid on an incentive-based mechanism.

978-1-4799-8389-6/15/$31.00 2015
c IEEE 762
 II. DG I NTEGRATION : B ENEFITS AND D ESIGN I SSUES
A. Benefits of DG Integration
Several advantages are associated with installing DG units
in the distribution system. For example, one of the most
commonly advocated benefits is the use of DG units as standby
generators for peak demand periods [11]. Numerous other
benefits also exist, some of which are highlighted in the
following.
• Resource Utilization: Since DG units are of small size,
they avoid over provision of generation resources and let
the power system operate more efficiently.
• Reduced System Losses: Since the DG units are placed
on the distribution side of the power system, heavy
transmission line losses are avoided. Reduced line losses
also lead to increased efficiency.
• New Market Models: It is expected that the escalating DG
penetration will give way to new business and market
models. These models are likely to change the way a
power system is viewed commercially [12].
• Environment Benefits: Benefits associated with renewable
DG units include reduction in greenhouse gas (GHGs)
emission and decreased dependency on fossil fuel based
generation [13].
• Economic Benefits: The economic benefits [10] associ-
ated with DG integration includes lower operating cost
due to peak shaving, reduced spinning reserve (SR)
requirements, reduced associated costs for operation and
Fig. 1. A quick overview of the services and features of Traditional and maintenance [13, 14].
Smart grids.
B. Design Issues
The technical design considerations while using DG units
Distributed Generation mainly include voltage stability, service reliability, power
quality, protection and control within the main distribution
As mentioned previously, DG units are small-scale genera- network. A brief summary of a few essential concerns has
tors that are installed directly on the distribution network. The been given in the following.
amount of power a DG unit can supply to the distribution • Voltage Stability: DG penetration into the grid should
network is different for different countries. Generally, DG ensure that the entire system remains within the stable
input is between a few KWs to upto 10 MWs. The size and limits [10]. Voltage stability is a vital measure that
contribution of DG unit also often depends on what kind of monitors any potential collapse within the network.
fuel it consumes. A DG unit can be operate on fossil fuel • Reactive Power Compensation: Several DG technologies
or on renewable energy. It is often challenging to install a like wind turbine generators (WTG) use asynchronous
renewable DG unit because its generation patterns and the generators that consumes reactive power. This often re-
electricity demands are unequal [8]. It is well known that sults in a drop of voltage level within the system, which
the main problem with renewables (e.g. wind and solar) is must be avoided for ensuring good service quality.
their intermittent nature and dependency on weather. The • Protection Issues: Since DG units can cause reverse
integration of such technologies with smart grid is a highly power flow, the present day protections schemes need to
researched topic at present. Several methods and techniques be upgraded [15].
have been devised to ease integration of renewable DG units • Power Quality: An integrated DG unit should not produce
[9, 10]. the fluctuations and harmonics beyond limits. Several
In the next section, this paper examines the benefits of renewable technologies often employ an inverter that
integrating DG units into the smart grids. It also explores a can saturate the distribution transformer core with DC
number of design issues that affect this integration. Section III injections and results in malfunctioning of protection
covers a discussion on management, control and protection equipment [16].
aspects. This paper is concluded in Section IV while the • Islanding Protection: Ideally, DG units should be placed
references are given at the end of the paper. such that they can provide continuous power supply even

2015 IEEE 10th Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA) 763
 TABLE I
S TANDARDS AND PROJECTS ADDRESSING DG I NTEGRATION .

Organization Project Standards being followed

National Institute of Standard and Technology, USA Roadmap for Smart Grid Inter-operability IEEE 1547 and IEC 61850
Korean Electric Power Company Smart Grid Roadmap 2030 IEEE 1547
State Grid Corporation of China SGCC Framework IEEE 1547
Ministry of Economy Trade and Industry, Japan Smart Grid Roadmap Japan Electrical Association (2010)
Smart Energy Reference Architecture Microsoft, USA IEC 61968 and IEC 61850

Fig. 3. A sample control scheme for DG units in the microgrid mode.

Fig. 2. Modes of operation of DG units. DG units can be connected to operate in a number of

different modes based on the requirements [14], as shown
in Figure 2. These include isolated mode, distribution net-
work connected mode, micro-grid mode, clustered mode and
when there is an outage at the main supply. DG units
virtual power plant mode. The electricity needs of the off-
operating in such a manner are said to be functioning
grid communities (far-fetched rural areas) are usually fulfilled
in islanding mode. The protection mechanism should be
by DG units in the isolated mode. This mode may also hold
able to avoid unintentional islanding and should isolate
an isolated hybrid mini-grid configuration with several DG
DG units during fault conditions [17].
units [23]. The generation-load balance is usually achieved
• Redefined Service Domains: Distribution System Opera-
with battery storage. This mode ensures maximum resource
tors (DSOs) were only responsible for the management of
utilization in a given area that is not otherwise served by the
the distribution network. Managing or installing DG units
main grid.
previously was not part of DSOs responsibility. However,
DG integration poses a number of regulation challenges The micro-grid mode is concerned with defining physical
for the DSOs. Therefore, DG integration requires redefin- boundaries, incorporating controllable DGs, responsive loads
ing DSO job in new retail competitive markets. and is capable of running alongside the main grid. The
additional feature of MG is acquiring a point of common
Several organizations around the world are examining DG
coupling (PCC) with the main grid. PCC allows interaction
integration by introducing standards that meet the aforemen-
among main grid and MG to exchange electric power. This
tioned design issues. Some of these standards are listed in
maintains demand-supply balance. The losses are naturally less
Table I [18-22].
as MG is spread over a smaller geographical expanse. MG
III. E SSENTIAL C OMPONENTS OF DG I NTEGRATION encourages end user participation and allows them to become
Several previous works have discussed the essential services more independent in their energy utilization. The concept of
required for effectively integrating DG units with smart grids. DGs in MG can be extended to a cluster of such MGs. The
Among them, we highlight the three most important ones in so-called cluster mode relieves the burden on the main grid in
the following. terms of management and control [24, 25]. Virtual power plant
mode is similar to the cluster mode because VPP comprises
A. Smart Management of a bunch of DG units that are managed and controlled by a
Smart management is concerned with using DG units in central entity. The capacity of VPP is comparable to a large
order to best use the available resources. It is essentially conventional power plant [26] and can spread across a number
concerned with using the right mode of operation of a DG of clustered MGs. The large scale DG integration into VPP
unit in the right application domain. has also been demonstrated in the Fenix Project [27].

764 2015 IEEE 10th Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA)
 Fig. 5. A protection scheme that uses communication-based technique.

Fig. 4. A flowchart of the control scheme meant for DG units operating in

clustered or VPP modes.
On the other hand, clustered DG units and those operating
in VPP mode follow a hierarchical control scheme [16]. As
shown in Figure 4, such a scheme is divided into five levels.
B. Smart Control Level 0 is internal loop control that manages P/Q generated by
DG in VPP configuration. The next step is Level 1, which is
Control operations are reasonably straightforward in tradi-
primary control that adjusts voltage and frequency in limits
tional grids where power flows only in one direction. However
to feed inner loops of level 0. Also it maintains balance
with increasing DG penetration, the availability of robust
between generation and demand by sensing and regulating
control is vital to meet the management objectives.
the generation process. Level 2 is secondary control that is
The legacy control mechanisms are either centralized or responsible for monitoring and supervising of MGCCs, DMS
distributed. The centralized control mechanisms suffer from and DGs and regulates P/Q within VPP. Level 3 is tertiary
the single point of failure issues in addition to being compu- control that regulates frequency and voltage in grid connected
tationally expensive. Distributed control, on the other hand, operations. Market structure and business model concerns are
reduces the computational load but requires complex commu- covered in level 4.
nication among the local controllers. In a hybrid approach,
local optimization within a group is attained via centralized C. Smart Protection
control while global optimization is achieved via the dis- The electrical protection system consists of devices, re-
tributed control [30-31]. DGs units in a distribution network lays, grounding and measurement equipment that operate on
are usually controlled individually by DSO using centralized different protection schemes and algorithms. Since the pres-
control. However, large number of DGs controlled individually ence of DG units enables bidirectional power flow, upgraded
in such a manner can build up a burdensome task for DSOs. protection schemes and equipment are required for safe and
In order to avoid this, the control system in MG mode is sustainable operation. The impact of DG units on the existing
distributed and internal in nature, thus preventing the main distribution system protection in terms of blinding, false
grid from controlling a large number of DG units. tripping, fault currents etc [33] must be taken into account.
The control scheme for DGs in MG configuration consists One of the main concerns with current distribution systems is
of distribution management scheme (DMS) as one of the key the intentional islanding operation of DG units due to the main
enablers, which is distribution network counterpart of energy grid outage. Such operation is not allowed in current utility
and management system (EMS). DMS is responsible for practices. Islanding can cause irregularity in frequency and
control, supervision and management of generation and trans- voltage, which may result in malfunctioning of the protection
mission of power at the distribution end. Also, MG holds a relays. When the main grid is restored, the DG units may face
microgrid central controller (MGCC), associated microsources synchronization problem [17].
controllers (MCs) and associated load controllers (LCs). The The protection of DG units is a bigger concern in Loss
DMS instructs each controller to maintain a balance between of Mains (LOM) situations. LOM is when the main power
the generation and load. DMS directs MGCC to interact with supply to the network gets suspended. The DG units must
MCs and LCs. This interaction is on the basis of acquired data be informed about LOM as soon as possible to avoid damage
of active and reactive powers in the MG. LCs are responsible and malfunction. There are two broad ways in which DG units
of controlling the power supplied to the loads. Thus, MGCC can be protected in these conditions. These methods include
sends commands to MC and LC for balancing generation and local-based methods and communication-based methods. The
load [32]. The distributed nature of such a control scheme has local method is based on measuring parameters like voltage,
been shown in Figure 3. frequency and phase to detect LOM. On the other hand,

2015 IEEE 10th Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications (ICIEA) 765
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