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Designing New Business Models and Decision Support Tools for Electricity Aggregators

A special issue of Energies (ISSN 1996-1073). This special issue belongs to the section "C: Energy Economics and Policy".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: 30 August 2024 | Viewed by 4689

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
School of Economics, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: energy; finance; econometrics; computer science; operations research
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

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Guest Editor
School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, 541 24 Thessaloniki, Greece
Interests: power system operation & control; electricity market operational and regulatory issues; transmission pricing
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

An aggregator is a service-providing business entity that trades the energy generation or moderates the electricity consumption of a group of producers and consumption meters, often representing different geographical areas or generation technologies. Aggregators play a key role in the smooth integration of renewable energy in the power system by facilitating the participation of independent producers in the wholesale market and improving the stability/predictability of the aggregate generation profile. This Special Issue intends to explore novel business models and decision-support tools addressing the present and future needs of aggregators. We invite contributions on the following tentative list of topics:

  • Optimal participation strategies in electricity markets;
  • Optimization models and weather forecasting techniques for aggregators;
  • Spatiotemporal balancing of renewable energy resources;
  • Financial instruments for hedging volume/market risks.

Dr. Nikolaos S. Thomaidis
Dr. Pandelis N. Biskas
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Energies is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • aggregator
  • virtual power plant
  • electricity market
  • risk management
  • optimal sizing

Published Papers (3 papers)

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Research

32 pages, 2893 KiB  
Article
Managing the Intermittency of Wind Energy Generation in Greece
by Theodoros Christodoulou, Nikolaos S. Thomaidis, Stergios Kartsios and Ioannis Pytharoulis
Energies 2024, 17(4), 866; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17040866 - 13 Feb 2024
Viewed by 1353
Abstract
This paper performs a comprehensive analysis of the wind energy potential of onshore regions in Greece with emphasis on quantifying the volume risk and the spatial covariance structure. Optimization techniques are employed to derive efficient wind capacity allocation plans (also known as generation [...] Read more.
This paper performs a comprehensive analysis of the wind energy potential of onshore regions in Greece with emphasis on quantifying the volume risk and the spatial covariance structure. Optimization techniques are employed to derive efficient wind capacity allocation plans (also known as generation portfolios) incorporating different yield aspirations. The generation profile of minimum variance and other optimal portfolios along the efficient frontier are subject to rigorous evaluation using a fusion of descriptive and statistical methods. In particular, principal component analysis is employed to estimate factor models and investigate the spatiotemporal properties of wind power generation, providing valuable insights into the persistence of volume risk. The overarching goal of the study is to employ a set of statistical and mathematical programming tools guiding investors, aggregators and policy makers in their selection of wind energy generating assets. The findings of this research challenge the effectiveness of current policies and industry practices, offering a new perspective on wind energy harvesting with a focus on the management of volume risk. Full article
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14 pages, 3129 KiB  
Article
Win–Win Coordination between RES and DR Aggregators for Mitigating Energy Imbalances under Flexibility Uncertainty
by Christos T. Krasopoulos, Thanasis G. Papaioannou, George D. Stamoulis, Nikolaos Ntavarinos, Malamatenia D. Patouni, Christos K. Simoglou and Athanasios Papakonstantinou
Energies 2024, 17(1), 21; https://doi.org/10.3390/en17010021 - 20 Dec 2023
Viewed by 777
Abstract
The integration of renewable rnergy sources (RESs) into the power grid involves operational challenges due to the inherent RES energy-production variability. Imbalances between actual power generation and scheduled production can lead to grid instability and revenue loss for RES operators and aggregators. To [...] Read more.
The integration of renewable rnergy sources (RESs) into the power grid involves operational challenges due to the inherent RES energy-production variability. Imbalances between actual power generation and scheduled production can lead to grid instability and revenue loss for RES operators and aggregators. To address this risk, in this paper, we introduce a mutually beneficial bilateral trading scheme between a RES and a DR aggregator to internally offset real-time energy imbalances before resorting to the flexibility market. We consider that the DR aggregator manages the energy demand of users, characterized by uncertainty in their participation in DR events and thus the actual provision of flexibility, subject to their offered monetary incentives. Given that the RES aggregator faces penalties according to dual pricing for positive or negative imbalances, we develop an optimization framework to achieve the required flexibility while addressing the trade-off between maximizing the profit of the RES and DR aggregators and appropriately incentivizing the users. By using appropriate parameterization of the solution, the achievable revenue for the imbalance offsetting can be shared between the RES and the DR aggregators while keeping users satisfied. Our analysis highlights the interdependencies of the demand–production energy imbalance on user characteristics and the RES and DR aggregator profits. Based on our results, we show that a win–win outcome (for the RES and DR aggregators and the users) is possible for a wide range of cases, and we provide guidelines so that such bilateral agreements between RES and DR aggregators could emerge in practical settings. Full article
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21 pages, 1610 KiB  
Article
DSO-Aggregator Demand Response Cooperation Framework towards Reliable, Fair and Secure Flexibility Dispatch
by Venizelos Venizelou, Apostolos C. Tsolakis, Demetres Evagorou, Christos Patsonakis, Ioannis Koskinas, Phivos Therapontos, Lampros Zyglakis, Dimosthenis Ioannidis, George Makrides, Dimitrios Tzovaras and George E. Georghiou
Energies 2023, 16(6), 2815; https://doi.org/10.3390/en16062815 - 17 Mar 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1926
Abstract
Unlocking flexibility on the demand side is a prerequisite for balancing supply and demand in distribution networks with high penetration levels of renewable energy sources that lead to high volatility in energy prices. The main means of fully gaining access to the untapped [...] Read more.
Unlocking flexibility on the demand side is a prerequisite for balancing supply and demand in distribution networks with high penetration levels of renewable energy sources that lead to high volatility in energy prices. The main means of fully gaining access to the untapped flexibility is the application of demand response (DR) schemes through aggregation. Notwithstanding, to extract the utmost of this potential, a combination of performance-, financial-, and technical-related parameters should be considered, a balance rarely identified in the state of the art. The contribution of this work lies in the introduction of a holistic DR framework that refines the DR-related strategies of the aggregator towards optimum flexibility dispatch, while facilitating its cooperation with the distribution system operator (DSO). The backbone of the proposed DR framework is a novel constrained-objective optimisation function which minimises the aggregator’s costs through optimal segmentation of customer groups based on fairness and reliability aspects, while maintaining the distribution balance of the grid. The proposed DR framework is evaluated on a modified IEEE 33-Bus radial distribution system where a real DR event is successfully executed. The flexibility of the most fair, reliable and profitable sources, identified by the developed optimisation function, is dispatched in an interoperable and secure manner without interrupting the normal operation of the distribution grid. Full article
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