J. P. Iria

The STABALID project: Risk analysis of stationary Li-ion batteries for power system applications

This work presents a risk analysis performed to stationary Li-ion batteries within the framework of the STABALID project. The risk analysis had as main objective analysing the variety of hazards and dangerous situations that might be experienced by the battery during its life cycle and providing useful information on how to prevent or manage those undesired events. The first task of the risk analysis was the identification of all the hazards (or risks) that may arise during the battery life cycle. Afterwards, the hazards identified were mapped in the different stages of the battery life cycle and two analyses were performed for each stage: an internal problem analysis and an external peril analysis. For both, the dangerous phenomena and the undesirable events resulting from each hazard was evaluated in terms of probability of occurrence and severity. Then, a risk assessment was carried out according to a predefined risk matrix and a preliminary set of risk mitigation measures were proposed to reduce their probability of occurrence and/or their severity level. The results obtained show that it is possible to reduce the probability of occurrence/severity of all the risks associated to the battery life cycle to acceptable or tolerable levels.

Availability of household loads to participate in demand response

This paper proposes a novel method to characterize the availability of household loads to participate in demand response programmes, as well as detailed mathematical models to characterize households loads. The availability of the households results from the flexibility of their controllable loads to increase/reduce consumption. This flexibility is calculated taking into account the comfort levels predefined by the customers and the technical restrictions of the controllable loads. The proposed method was evaluated through a management algorithm developed to perform demand control actions in quasi-real-time, according to the objectives of the distribution system operator or energy aggregator and the availability of the household loads. A scenario with a single household located in a semi-urban area is used to illustrate the application of the algorithm and validate the proposed method.

Estimating the flexible residential load using appliances availability

In the Smart Grid environment, it is expected that Home Energy Management Systems (HEMS) should be capable of managing appliances inside the house, in order to provide reserve services. This paper aims at estimating the flexibility of a Portuguese typical residential load diagram. For this purpose, a bottom-up approach is used, i.e., the aggregated flexible load demand is determined taking into account the availability of each appliance to be controlled by the HEMS. The comfort requirements of the consumers are also incorporated in the flexibility calculations by integrating realistic load models into HEMS.

Identifying benefits between the integration of Electric Vehicles and renewable power usage

The impact of large-scale Electric Vehicles (EVs) deployment in electric power systems is a current issue under study by the scientific community. The integration of this type of electric component requires robust planning solutions to mitigate possible consequences from such integration. This paper explores the quantification of the amount of renewable sources, namely wind and hydro power, which can be safely integrated into power systems in a scenario of a mass integration of EVs. The increase of renewable power in the generation portfolio is analyzed under the framework of generating system adequacy assessment considering several EVs deployment scenarios and an adequate charging strategy. The analysis is carried for the planning configurations of the Portuguese and Spanish generating systems and the results are focused on the potential benefits of EV integration in terms of hydro and wind power usage.