IEEE Electrification - December 2022 - 67

anticipate where and when the new DER interconnections
will be requested by customers, requests may
overturn the original grid upgrade plan and reshape
resource distribution.
In the past decade, the Commonwealth Edison Smart
Grid team has implemented a series of new technology
demonstrations to better prepare traditional technical
teams for future challenges. These investigations have
placed a particular emphasis on control systems and
sensors that enable a variety of DER management solutions,
including DER management system (DERMS) and
microgrid controllers, supported by grid-edge devices.
This article reviews ongoing efforts at ComEd to foster a
flexible, grid-edge-inspired, and community-oriented
control framework for the future grid. Several representative
demonstrations [e.g., a DERMS, microgrid master controller
(MMC), battery energy storage system (BESS) outage management,
sensors with an intelligent measurement platform
and low-cost equipment (SIMPLE), and grid-edge sensors] are
further described in the following paragraphs. The discussion
section explores existing challenges and a potential
example of this challenge arose on a unique area of
ComEd's distribution grid (as shown in Figure 1) with operational
characteristics not common in the system. This network
serves a large, vastly open area of northern Illinois,
and there is great interest in installing DERs in this area.
However, the yield of the DERs on this network can induce
reverse power flow that exceeds the nominal loading
capacity of the substation transformer. Traditionally, for
DERs to connect to this network, an enormous scope of
upgrading is required, which may include miles of distribution
line extensions and substation upgrades, which could
add up to millions of dollars.
To accommodate the request of DER integration and
manage the reverse power flow, ComEd deployed its first
DERMS, a management system that combines software
and field hardware to better optimize the grid, enabling
a higher integration of DERs, such as solar, wind generation,
and battery storage. A DERMS provides forecasting,
monitoring, and coordinated control of DERs on the system.
It monitors transformer loading, DER output, system
conditions, and sends signals to control DERs if the
triggering criteria is met. With a DERMS, DERs
would be able to connect to the network
without having to perform the traditional
scope of work.
We have been actively developing the
DERMS from aspects of software, hardware,
and communication. As the brain of a DERMS,
the software part defines how to interface
with important stakeholders, including the
supervisory control and data acquisition
(SCADA) system, front-end communications/
data acquisition with DER customers, user
interface, historical information storage and
reporting, maintenance (display/database
management), and future expansions. To
implement coordination beyond a few devices,
we utilized a reliable, low-latency, highbandwidth
fiber communication system that
allows each device to follow a particular control
signal. We also needed to securely extend
our SCADA network to the DER's smart in -
verter, and we created an enhanced interconnection
by adding a remote terminal unit
(RTU). With the RTU at the PV site, it can either
curtail PV generation by a DERMS or turn on/
off the DER by the operation control center
in emergencies.
The DERMS utilizes rule-based predefined
logic to sequentially curtail the DERs participath
to grid edge functionality, visibility, and responsiveness
within a community-oriented control framework.
A Preliminary Demonstration of DERMSs
Along with the proliferation of DERs, distribution networks
are challenged to improve their hosting capacity. One
pating in the program. Once a reverse power flow
exceeding 40 MVA is detected at the Mendota station
transformer, the DERMS software triggers a curtailment
strategy to analyze the three interconnections' sites output.
Once triggered, the software records the respective
contribution of individual DERs using a real-time power
IEEE Electrification Magazine / DECEMBER 2022
67
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IEEE Electrification - December 2022

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