IEEE Electrification - December 2022 - 75

As a result, ComEd deployed three SIMPLE devices within the
BCM to field validate the feasibility of having grid-edge
SIMPLE devices monitor DER status and control adjacent
DERs to manage feeder power flow. This demonstration was
held on a private network instead of ComEd's real-time
operational technology (OT) platform due to a lengthy IT evaluation
on the architecture engagement process. The detailed
testing results are recorded in the final SIMPLE report on the
DOE's OSTI website.
The New Age of Discovery: Charting a Course
Toward a Flexible, Community-Oriented
Control Framework With Extensive
Grid-Edge Functionality
Transition of consumers, technology advancements, and
climate change mitigation (decarbonization) are all motivations
toward the exploration of a new control framework
for distribution systems that can better provide the grid
flexibility, resilience, and sustainability that customers
need. Field demonstrations provided a deep experiential
understanding that is indispensable in the design and operation
of complex systems. ComEd's DERMSs, microgrid
controllers, and grid-edge sensors/controllers allowed
technical teams to engineer solutions. By doing so, these
teams accumulated valuable experience with new technologies
and community collaboration. The exploration is
ongoing as ComEd is developing a road map for DERMS
architectures to prioritize functionalities, which defines a
complex and secure model operating alongside demand
response, third-party DER aggregators, virtual power
plants, and so on. Because a utility DERMS is a response to
the rising complexity of the grid, we must keep the behavioral
and technological changes in view to chart the course.
Although a utility DERMS is foundational to the
future grid control ecosystem, its ability to address grid
operation scenarios that happen on the cusps of the grid
edge is limited. Due to its centralized control architecture,
the adoption and operation of a utility DERMS can
be cumbersome given the diversity of individual DERs
on the network. In addition, the centralized system is
also vulnerable to communications disruptions, which
has been proven repeatedly in grid-scale energy management
systems.
All things considered, the ideal control framework
should be convenient, reliable, and affordable, the
structure of which can be dynamic to stimulate grid
transformation while also maintain grid reliability and
equitable service. At the same time, this framework
should also be flexible enough to reap maximum grid
benefits from grid-edge DERs, such as grid forming and
demand response, via grid-edge control architectures.
There is the promise of additional reliability and resilience
that can yield significant benefits for prosumers
and their neighbors with DERs (including BESSs)
on the grid edge. The crowning achievement of an
advanced control framework would be a balance of
centralized and decentralized control that are both
responsive to changing conditions and flexible in the
face of system disruption. Technology development is
advancing to this direction, and there are still numerous
challenges lying ahead.
Challenges Ahead
Among ComEd's demonstration of DER management
solutions, project teams consider the top grid-integration
challenges to be control coordination, distribution system
SIMPLE 2
SIMPLE 3
IED 2
IED 1
SIMPLE 1
LV
IMD 1
IED 4
BESS Controller
AMPAMP
CAP Bank
Controller
GTNET
GRID 2
PCL 6
GTAO
GTAO
PCL 9PCL 10 PCL 11
DDS-DNP3
Converter
G
GTAO
IMD 2
IED 5
PV Controller
AMP
IMD 3
SV
IED 3
Substation 2
Substation Controller
Capacitor Bank
Legend:
Wired Ethernet
DDS Path
AMP
Current Amplifier
Sample Value
Low-Voltage Signals
PV System
750 kW
Battery System
500 kW/2 MWh
Figure 9. An RTDS hardware-in-the-loop test schematic for use case 3, testing with three SIMPLE units: this also mimics the SIMPLE setup that was
implemented in the field.
IEEE Electrification Magazine / DECEMBER 2022
75
IEEE Electrification - December 2022

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