Teleport

Dynamic transport capacity allocation

What is transport capacity allocation

Transport capacity allocation at any time refers to the contracted capacity with the Distribution System Operator (DSO). Such contracts in practice define a fixed, also called, firm capacity which is guaranteed 24/7 by the DSO. However, due to current developments, it is not always possible to receive the requested transport capacity allocation due to congestion.

Dynamic transport capacity allocation

The objective of load contracts is to get fair allocation of grid capacity. Dynamic control of consumption and generation can unlock a non-firm grid capacity which is not guaranteed and is dependent on the amount of congestion in real time. DSOs can provide voltage conditions and corresponding droop characteristics for active and reactive power control at the point of connection, therefore allowing prosumers to use available grid capacity in real time. The focus is to maximize grid utilization.

There could be various mechanisms that allocate the non-firm grid capacity, for example, market-based or direct control methods such as active and reactive power control. This allows for a better pricing mechanism in periods of congestion/scarce capacity where the value of capacity is variable while firm capacity is constant with a flat fee. Teleport can unlock such mechanisms using various solutions such as:

  • Configurable static dynamic feed-in limit
  • Dynamic Load Control (droop-based control techniques)

    • Active Power Control (APC) - Active power droop control relies on local voltage measurements as inputs to regulate the amount of curtailed power. When the voltage increases above a certain threshold, the renewable energy source (RES) starts proportionally curtailing the active power. The undesired property of this solution is locational penalization. This means that the prosumers at the end of the feeder get curtailed more compared to the RES owners at the head of the feeder.

    • Reactive Power Control (RPC) - Multiple reactive power control techniques exist based on fixed reactive power (fixed Q), fixed power factor (cos(phi)), power factor as a function of active power (cos(phi)(P)) or reactive power as a function of grid voltage (Q(V)). Similar to active power droop control, Q(V) is a local control function that utilizes measurements of voltage to decide on the amount of reactive power to be consumed or injected by the RES.

    • Active-Reactive Power Control - A combination of APC and RPC can be applied to combine the best characteristics of both strategies.