Power system planning

This course focuses on

• Boundary conditions and procedures for grid operation
• Infrastructure improvements for VRE integration
• Congestion management with consideration of low carbon emissions

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to

• Identify the technical limits of electrical grids,
• Describe the most important boundary conditions and procedures for grid operation,
• Explain which grid infrastructure components allow the transmission and distribution of high shares of VRE generation across the power system, and
• Analyse congestion management procedures with additional consideration of low carbon emissions.

This training suits those who

• Are involved in grid operation, transmission and distribution with high shares of variable renewable energy (vRE)
• Want to understand options to manage grid infrastructure with high amount of vRE
• Need to develop strategies to integrate vRE into grid operation

A large part of the power sector is already affected by digitalisation. The more that generation shifts from centralised thermal systems to decentralised, renewable systems, the greater the potential application of modern, digital tools in system control. Digitalisation is the key technology that makes it possible to organise decentralised networks and thus contribute to decarbonisation while maintaining a high level of security of supply.

In this course, you will be shown the reasons why digitalisation is a key driver for building the sustainable power systems of the future and how it can contribute to decarbonisation.

This course focuses on

• Energy economics background of digitalisation of the power sector
• Opportunities and risks of digitalisation for sustainability and
• decarbonisation
• Key technologies
• Smart generation, transmission and consumption
• Smart markets and process
• Risks and cyber security

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to

• Identify the areas of the power sector which are most affected by digitalisation
• Assess potential advantages for society, the economy, and market participants arising from the digitalisation of the power sector
• Identify and explain the most important technologies which form the basis for the current digitalisation of the power sector
• Explain how these technologies can be applied in order to optimise generation, transmission, storage and consumption of electrical power
• Understand which aspects of digitalisation support decarbonisation and energy efficiency, and which can put these objectives at risk
• Demonstrate how digital technologies shape existing markets and processes, and how they may create new ones
• Describe the risks arising from increasing digitalisation of the power sector and create counter measures against potential attacks

This training suits those who

• Are involved in the energy sector and want to understand the link between digitalisation and energy
• Would like to get information about current trends in smart grid development

Additional information following soon.
 

When a new power plant is constructed, the developer expects to incur costs for planning, building and connecting the unit. However, integrating this unit into the existing power system bears additional costs related to delivering the produced energy to the consumer at the precise time it is needed. These costs together are summarised under the term integration cost.

Because power generation from wind and solar photovoltaic (PV) power plants depends on weather conditions and hence varies over time, the cost of integrating these units into a power system differs substantially from the integration cost of dispatchable power plants. Thus, understanding and being able to estimate the integration cost of variable renewable energy (VRE) (wind and solar PV) is key to determining total economic cost. This then allows for a welfare-optimal generation mix in the process of planning the transition to a decarbonised electricity system.

This course focuses on

• Grid costs
• Balancing power costs
• Effects on existing power plant utilisation
• Total system cost approach

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to

• Explain the concept of integration cost, its purpose, definition and relevant points of discussion,
• Describe different approaches to the quantification of grid costs, balancing costs and the economic effects on existing conventional power plant utilisation,
• Based on literature estimates, specify the range of grid costs, balancing costs and economic effects on existing conventional power plant utilisation, and discuss possible reasons for variations in estimates,
• Discuss the total system cost approach as an alternative for comparing integration cost in different scenarios and identify its strengths and limitations.

This training suits those who

• Would like to get detailed insight in the economics of grid integration of wind and PV
• Want to compare grid integration costs wit benchmark data
• Need to develop grid integration strategies for photovoltaic and wind power

The increasing penetration of renewable energy sources and the replacement of fossil-fuel based power plants is changing the dynamics and stability of today’s electrical power systems. The substitution of well-known synchronous machines with power-electronic interfaced generation presents a challenge, particularly with respect to frequency behaviour.

This online course focuses on frequency and inertia issues and how to approach them using dynamic power system models that are based on open-source software. However, it is noted that replacing synchronous machines with non-rotational sources also has more general consequences.

The topics covered are

• The Concepts of Power System Stability and Control
• The importance of Inertia in Renewable Power Systems
• Dynamic Power System Modelling (for experts)
• Case Study (for experts)
• Lessons learned

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to

• Understand the wider context of inertia’s importance to power system stability.
• Distinguish the different timescales for frequency control.
• Differentiate between conventional and renewable power plants, in terms of their control behaviour.
• Identify and determine relevant dynamic stability measures.
• Recognise the different standards for frequency stability in different countries.
• Define inertia (in the context of conventional power plants).
• Illustrate renewable power system challenges, with respect to inertia.
• Explain how decreasing inertia changes the frequency gradient.
• Define measures to increase power system inertia, with or without storage solutions.
• Operate a software framework for modelling the dynamic stability of power grids, in order to investigate the necessary amount of inertia in relevant power systems.
• Analyse a case study in the open-source software, PowerDynamics.jl, in order to evaluate different solutions to increase inertia.
• Identify measures for wind and PV generation, which will ensure that inertia does not become a limiting factor in integrating variable renewable energies.

This training suits those who

•  Are involved in grid operation and grid planning with wind power and photovoltaic
• Need to understand how inertia in the grid is changed by wind and photovoltaic development
• Would like to operate a software to model dynamic stability of a model case power grids with wind power and photovoltaic

Protection systems are one of the very important components of power supply systems to meet safety, reliability and quality of supply requirements.

In the event of a fault, the protection systems can isolate the faulty components and at the same time keep the healthy parts of the power supply system in operation. Efficient protection systems can detect and isolate faults or exceptional situations within seconds to milliseconds. Back-up protection devices are installed to improve the reliability of the protection system.

This course focuses on

• Electrical behaviour of protection devices and photovoltaic generation systems
• Grid calculation methods
• Protection system planning principles
• Protection testing
• Compliance monitoring

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to

• Explain the general purpose of protection systems in distribution grids
• Name the basic principles of protection systems
• Identify the different impacts of renewables integration that impact grid protection scheme design
• Identify the most important differences in grid protection systems between low and medium voltage grids
• Explain the different kinds of protection systems that are in use today
• Describe the different calculation methods used in protection system planning
• Derive key success factors for effective protection planning principles when taking into account distributed PV power generation

This training suits those who

• Have an advanced knowledge of electrical engineering
• Are involved in the distribution grid operation and
• Want to understand how protection systems have to change if large amount of distributed generation as e.g. photovoltaic  is connected to the grid

This course is intended for project developers, grid operators and academics who are interested in the rationale for sizing BESS in ancillary services to solve power quality problems. It provides an overview about motivation, methods, and best practice for early steps to identify the suitability of a BESS for a given ancillary service. As such, it is one of multiple parts of the toolset to evaluate the optimum use and location of BESS.

This course focuses on

• BESS sizing for ancillary services
• BESS economics in ancillary services
• BESS performance

Upon completion of this course, you should be able to

• Explain why small amounts of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) in ancillary services can reduce the need for thermal must-run power station fraction,
• Explain when the sizing of a BESS is first needed,
• Identify relevant sources for requirements to size a BESS for ancillary services,
• Carry out a basic sizing methodology, and
• Extract relevant information from the sizing to evaluate a BESS business case.

This training suits those who

•  Have an advanced knowledge of electrical engineering
• Are involved in the planning of battery systems
• Are interested in the rationale for sizing BESS in ancillary services to solve power quality problems