Integration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs)

Dear Colleagues,

The DSO has aggregated, apart from individual consumers and energy sources, energy clusters (ECs) or other forms of energy communities (local balancing areas) as well; the DSO will escalate its aggregation in the near future. The aim of EC is to increase the level of local consumption, increase the share of RES, facilitate balancing and maximize the economic benefits of the cluster members while maintaining certain standards of power quality. Most often it comes down to achieving the highest possible level of self-sufficiency of power supply from local sources. With the increase in the number of such ECs, it may turn out that a much greater benefit can be obtained by shaping the energy consumption/generation profile in these areas in accordance with the reference pattern. This will be a form of flexibility service provided on commercial terms. Full energy self-sufficiency will only become a special case. In order to implement such a scenario, it is necessary to obtain an appropriate level of observability (monitoring) and controllability (on the demand and supply side) within the highlighted ECs and their aggregation in order to shape the given total load profile. The latter will require the effective communication of LBAs within DT, monitoring their load profiles and using the possibility of changing them. The above statements result in the so-called “digital twins” functionalities proposed by some ECs and DNOs in some countries. They are mainly oriented to support the technical and economic activity of ECs and make the integration of different distributed energy resources (DERs) easier and more profitable.

The purpose of the proposed Special Issue is to present various contemporary DER technologies and their mutual integration and cooperation with public distribution networks. Editors are particularly interested in:

• The presentation of the practical effects of already functioning solutions to the greatest possible extent;
• The presentation of the widest possible set of energy sources and storages—from traditional, solar, hydro, wind, geothermal, hydrogen, waste heat utilization, and energy harvesting to efficient energy use and building automation. It is important to integrate many parallel operating sources and to control energy flows in order to achieve the assumed goals of energy communities;
• The presentation of the widest possible range of energy problems that must be solved by energy communities, i.e. technical, organizational, business, social, economic problems, etc. We want to identify barriers to DER development and ways to overcome them.

Prof. Dr. Ryszard Sroka
Prof. Dr. Zbigniew Hanzelka
Guest Editors

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