A successful Summer School on “Advanced operation and control of active distribution networks” took place in Athens on 10-14 June 2019. The event was co-organised by the ERIGrid project partners ICCS-NTUA and HEDNO, together with RTDS Technologies, and included a well-balanced set of lectures, hands-on laboratory work, visits to cutting-edge installations and industry insights. 32 participants from academia and industry of 14 countries attended the event and provided excellent feedback on their experience.
Distribution networks have a key role in the transformation of the energy system, characterised by the massive integration of distributed generation, storage and electric vehicles, adoption of ICT solutions and consumer engagement. The ERIGrid Summer School included lectures on key aspects of modern distribution networks and smart grids, such as:
- Advanced inverter functions to provide ancillary services
- Optimal operation and control of distribution networks
- Machine learning applications in smart grids
- Energy markets and demand response
- Grid integration of Electric Vehicles
- Adaptive protection of distribution networks
- Service restoration of distribution networks
- Power system resilience
- Microgrid applications using real-time simulation
The program included 3 advanced laboratory sessions by the Smart Grids Research Unit – Smart RUE of ICCS-NTUA and RTDS Technologies. The sessions took place at the Electric Energy Systems Laboratory of NTUA.
- Each participant had the chance to use the RSCAD software of RTDS Technologies in order to execute real-time simulations of DER inverter controls. Live demonstrations of CHIL testing of an inverter controller and a microgrid controller were carried out by RTDS Technologies.
- The participants worked in small teams to perform CHIL experiments of inverter controls and fine tune the parameters of the controller. Moreover, they designed droop controllers and tested their impact on the network voltage in a CHIL setup.
- Live demonstrations of several CHIL and PHIL experiments were carried out: PHIL testing of inverter providing frequency support, CHIL/PHIL testing of coordinated voltage controller, HIL testing of adaptive protection system and VPP platform using Multi Agent Systems.
Moreover, the Summer School organised an exciting visit to the Meltemi smart grid living lab. The participants experienced an eco-friendly community combined with cutting-edge technology and tools installed by Smart RUE researchers, such as intelligent load controllers, small wind turbines, PVs, batteries etc. The field deployment of smart grid solutions in several EU projects was explained.
The last section of the Summer School was dedicated to the industry session organised by the Greek distribution network operator HEDNO. The participants had a unique chance to visit the control rooms of Attica’s Distribution Network Control Center, observe the SCADA in operation and be informed of the DMS functionalities. Moreover, they visited the Network Major Installations Department, where damaged HV/MV and MV/LV transformers are repaired. HEDNO experts presented the company profile, their EU projects, the distribution control centers, telemetering challenges and metering issues, among others. Informative discussions with HEDNO experts concluded the Summer School.
