The cPAD Project

Prof Michael Conlon

12 April 2018

The cPAD Project

• Community Grid Project and Demonstrator (cPAD)

• Funded by the International Energy Research Centre

• IERC is an industry-led Enterprise Ireland/IDA Ireland technology centre funded jointly by the Department of Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation and the Department of Energy, Communications and Natural Resources

• cPAD Project hosted by DIT

• Based in the Electrical Power Research Centre (EPRC), School of Electrical

and Electronic Engineering, DIT

• Participation from the Dublin Energy Lab (DEL)

• Participation by industry partners and groups

Context

• Sustained growth in renewable energy technologies at both a

distributed/small-scale level and at a utility level

• Signification participation at an individual customer level

• Photovoltaic

• Small-scale wind

• Micro CHP

• Heat pumps

• Supporting and utilisation technologies

• Energy storage, particular batteries

• Electric vehicles

• Smart-metering

• Enhanced communications and controls; cloud-based systems

• Development, operation, economics of these systems on the

grid

Community Grid

• A group of grid-connected electrical resources, within a clearly

defined electrical boundary in the Distribution System (e.g.sub-

station)

• … with a single logical connection point to the grid, for which:

• Obligation to ensure disturbance-neutrality

• Single controllable entity

• Entitlement to facilitation of grid connections (by DSO)

• Licensed to CSO (Community System Operator)

Project - Summary

• This project aims to develop both a residential based energy

generation and trading platform and novel business model for

community grid based prosumers

• The outcomes of this project are to influence a new era of

distributed generation and energy trading in Ireland

Project – Key Objectives

• Develop a prototype of the technology, and deploy this in an

operational environment so that the feasibility of Community

Grids can be demonstrated to external stakeholders such as

regulators and grid operators

• Develop a high-level commercial model for a Community

Systems Operator (CSO)

Project - Participation

• Funded by the International Energy Research Centre (IERC)

• PI and project developer, Rene Peeren

• Existing DIT Personnel

• John Dalton

• Michael Farrell

• Michael Conlon

• Project initiated in December 2017

• Budget: €1.5 million, funded by IERC and industry

• Duration: 2 years

• Currently in recruitment and engagement stage

Project Partners

• MPower – Lead Industry Partner

• Operator of Tallaght Living Lab

• Knowledge of Community Grid concepts

• South Dublin County Council (SDCC)

• Siemens – Distribution System Technologies

• mSemicon – Smart Metering

• SystemLink – Flexibility, Cryptocurrencies

• Community Renewable Supplier (CRES)/Tipperary Energy

Agency (TEA) – Electricity Market Specialists

• TBA – Market, Regulatory and Commercial Specialists

• IERC – Technical Oversight

Role of the CSO

Project concepts

• Flexibility resources

• Service required to respond to disturbances caused by production

within the community

• Disturbances due to intermittent renewable generation, causing

congestion and voltage fluctuations, for example

• Differentiate from DSO solutions, which may include system upgrades,

or compensating equipment

• Disturbance neutrality

• Achieved for participants of the community grid

• enerXchange

• Based on transactive energy principles, combining energy and flexibility

enerXchange High-level Architecture

Project – Work Packages

• WP 1 – Framework

• Delivery of validated prototype, market design proposals and

commercial model, integration of deliverables from other WPs

• WP 2 – Disturbances

• Delivery of the technology (controls + operational procedures) to

respond adequately to disturbances using available flexibility and

identify opportunities for improving performance through

collaboration with DSO

• WP 3 – Transactive places

• Deliver the technology and market mechanisms to locally contract

adequate flexibility within Community Grid to cover the forecast

production

Project – Work Packages (cont)

• WP 4 – Resources

• Delivers a software development framework framework that allows

production, flexibility or metering resources to be used by

enerXchange in a modular and plug&play fashion, and delivers those

resources that will be used by the prototype and designed in this

project, both SW implementations of the resource model, and SW/HW

of the resources themselves

• WP 5 – Market Design and Exploitation

• Delivers proposals for regulators, policy makers and other stake holders

within the electricity supply chain such as DSOs

• WP 6 – Dissemination

• Dissemination of the results to stakeholders, research community and

the public

Tallaght Smart Grid Test-Bed (Living Lab)

• 200 prosumers contracted, consisting of residential,

commercial and public (SDCC County Hall)

• 80 prosumers metered, 8 of these connected to an Advanced

Metering Infrastructure (AMI)

• Prosumer Dashboard

• 300kW battery array, grid connected, comprising lithium-ion,

lead-carbon and supercapacitors

• 50kW PV powered microgrid in SDCC

• Micro district heating ystem (6.6kWe, 15kWh), gas-fired CHP

• 4 prosumers with behind-the-meter batteries

• 3kVA heat pump at Glenasmole GAA

• 6.5kWe Proven Wind Turbine

• 2.9kWe, 3kWe PV and 3kVA heat pump in community