Advanced Communication and Control for Distributed Energy Resource Integration: Phase 2 Scientific Report

The objective of this research project is to demonstrate sensing, communication, information and control technologies to achieve a seamless integration of multivendor distributed energy resource (DER) units at aggregation levels that meet individual user requirements for facility operations (residential, commercial, industrial, manufacturing, etc.) and further serve as resource options for electric and natural gas utilities. The fully demonstrated DER aggregation system with embodiment of communication and control technologies will lead to real-time, interactive, customer-managed service networks to achieve greater customer value. Work on this Advanced Communication and Control Project (ACCP) consists of a two-phase approach for an integrated demonstration of communication and control technologies to achieve a seamless integration of DER units to reach progressive levels of aggregated power output. Phase I involved design and proof-of-design, and Phase II involves real-world demonstration of the Phase I design architecture. The scope of work for Phase II of this ACCP involves demonstrating the Phase I design architecture in large scale real-world settings while integrating with the operations of one or more electricity supplier feeder lines. The communication and control architectures for integrated demonstration shall encompass combinations of software and hardware components, including: sensors, data acquisition and communication systems, remote monitoring systems, metering (interval revenue, real-time), local and wide area networks, Web-based systems, smart controls, energy management/information systems with control and automation of building energy loads, and demand-response management with integration of real-time market pricing. For Phase II, BPL Global shall demonstrate the Phase I design for integrating and controlling the operation of more than 10 DER units, dispersed at various locations in one or more Independent System Operator (ISO) Control Areas, at an aggregated scale of more than 1 MW, to provide grid support. Actual performance data with respect to each specified function above is to be collected during the Phase II field demonstration. At a minimum, the Phase II demonstration shall span one year of field operations. The demonstration performance will need to be validated by the target customer(s) for acceptance and subsequent implementation. An ISO must be involved in demonstration planning and execution. As part of the Phase II work, BPL Global shall develop a roadmap to commercialization that identifies and quantifies the potential markets for the integrated, aggregated DER systems and for the communication and control technologies demonstrated in Phase I. In addition, the roadmap must identify strategies and actions, as well as the regional and national markets where the aggregated DER systems with communication and control solutions will be introduced, along with a timeline projected for introduction into each identified market. In Phase I of this project, we developed a proof-of-concept ACCP system and architecture and began to test its functionality at real-world sites. These sites had just over 10 MW of DERs and allowed us to identify what needed to be done to commercialize this concept. As a result, we started Phase II by looking at our existing platform and identified its strengths and weaknesses as well as how it would need to evolve for commercialization. During this process, we worked with different stakeholders in the market including: Independent System Operators, DER owners and operators, and electric utility companies to fully understand the issues from all of the different perspectives. Once we had an understanding of the commercialized ACCP system, we began to document and prepare detailed designs of the different system components. The components of the system with the most significant design improvements were: the on-site remote terminal unit, the communication technology between the remote site and the data center, and the scalability and reliability of the data center application. As we began to implement the Phase II ACCP system, we upgraded the real-world demonstration sites from Phase I of the project as well as added additional sites to broaden the types of DER the platform was tested with. We worked with the owners and operators of these sites to understand how the system was meeting their needs and made modifications throughout the project as needed. This also included an effort to continue to understand the barriers to commercial adoption of the ACCP architecture and standardized communication protocols. The final aspect of this phase of the project was to prepare resources to aid in the commercial adoption of the ACCP architecture and standardized communication protocols. This entailed: presentations at conferences, published articles and papers, and web-based technical resources to provide tools to aid in the design and implementation of ACCP systems