Abstract:
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Smart distributed power systems are an important part of the energy shift that is
currently taking place. Electricity generation, as well as power system control is
moving from central operation towards local distribution grid operation, mainly due
to the new possibilities that come along with distributed energy resources (DERs).
These allow local consumers to generate their own electricity (prosumer), and offer
support services to the grid, such as frequency control for example. Smart distributed
grids can improve the local operation of DERs by coordinating demand and supply
in real-time, and as such improve the power quality of the distribution grid, as
well as improve the security of energy supply on local level. However, intelligent
control systems, such as design of the H2020 project EMPOWER that will be used
in this work, bring along complex new interconnections in the distribution grid,
that may lead to increased risk of failure propagations in the distribution grid. As
this, and several other challenges of the smart distributed grid could counteract the
anticipated benefits, the need arises to evaluate how well an intelligent control system
can cope with constantly evolving interconnections in the distribution grid, with the
addition of new technologies, with the grid vulnerabilities regarding cyber security,
etc. Evaluating how a system behaves when going through changing conditions,
or when undergoing a disturbance, can be defined as resilience analysis, and this
is what this thesis will be about. First, resilience will be defined in the context
of smart distributed power systems through an extensive literature review, after
which a resilience framework will be developed, based on the existing EMPOWER
smart distribution grid. The technical characteristics, as well as the functionalities
of the system will be defined and represented in an entity-relationship model. This
model will serve as a basis to assess the level of dependencies that each main
system functionality has in relation to three elements: the physical infrastructure
of the system, its socio-economic environment, and the ICT network. Moreover,
the attributes, or properties of the system components will be used to formulate
resilience indicators against different types of disturbances of the smart distribution
grid. |