New tools to ensure secure electricity grid operation
Transmission system operators (TSOs) are facing increasingly complex requirements regarding cooperation to ensure reliable grid operation in a current and future pan-EU electricity network. With this in mind, the EU-funded UMBRELLA (Toolbox for common forecasting, risk assessment, and operational optimisation in grid security cooperations of transmission system operators (TSOs)) project set out to introduce a toolbox for innovative power flow management in future electricity systems with substantial contributions from intermittent RESs. Project partners developed a dedicated innovative toolbox to support the efforts of TSOs and Regional Security Cooperation Initiatives (RSCIs) in ensuring secure grid operations in future electricity networks. The toolbox enables TSOs to act in a coordinated European target system where regional approaches come together to ensure the best possible use of electricity infrastructure. The developed toolbox will be used in various operational timeframes and includes several key components. The first is a simulation of uncertainty caused by market activities and RESs. The second is a deterministic and probabilistic optimisation framework for corrective actions to tackle simulated risks on different timescales and increasing system complexity. This helps to reduce the total cost of uncertainty while boosting system security and transmission capacity. Lastly, risk-based assessment tools for anticipated system states with and without corrective actions. The UMBRELLA team delivered a set of recommendations for relevant stakeholders. These proposals help to enhance interoperability and security in the pan-European grid system, and enable data exchange so that developed software tools can be applied by TSOs and within RSCIs. UMBRELLA greatly contributed to electricity network security in the face of increasing cross-border challenges and the use of intermittent RESs.
Keywords
Electricity grid, Renewable energy sources, transmission system operators, UMBRELLA, grid security
