A fully distributed control scheme for power balancing in distribution networks

The progressive diffusion of generation units based on intermittent renewable energy sources, as well as the increasing volatile power demand, calls for a new framework to compensate the power variability in a local fashion. In this context, the European Union instituted the figure of the Balance Responsible Party, i.e. an entity entitled of internally compensating the power fluctuations, exploiting a portfolio of local dispatchable units. Considering a distribution network carrying balance responsibility, this work devises a scalable, fully distributed, multi-layer control strategy for internal power balancing. The proposed scheme features multiple local MPC regulators, performing an autonomous power balancing; a supervisory layer based on Distributed Consensus ADMM is introduced to coordinate local regulators when some of them exhausts its local resources. Numerical results eventually show the effectiveness of the approach.