IEEE Electrification - December 2022 - 76

visibility, IT architecture engagement assessment, and
vendor compatibility.
Grid control coordination issues are imminent, spanning
from grid-forming inverters to grid-scale control
software. With more control systems now deployed on
the grid, numerous questions have emerged. For example,
how best to resolve a control conflict between a
local control system (e.g., an MMC) and a grid-scale voltvar
optimization (VVO) system: Can a VVO system relinquish
its control on some of the local devices (e.g.,
capacitor banks and voltage regulators) to the local control
system and regain control when needed? How can
multiple grid-forming inverter-based resources (IBRs)
coordinate with each other within a microgrid to do grid
forming and system restoration after extreme events?
What is the best coordination strategy between gridedge
controllers and DERMSs? Some of these questions
are easy to answer, but others may need further
research and potential policymaking.
Distribution system visibility will be second to grid
control coordination because controllers will not generate
sounding control signals if inputs are polluted or
skewed. Unfortunately, the high penetration of BTM DERs
exaggerates the distribution system visibility problem.
This may be resolved by deploying advanced grid-edge
sensors such as MicroPMUs, power quality meters and
optical sensors, and leveraging the cloud-hosted data
analytics platform to analyze system status. A distribution
linear state estimator (DLSE) that leverages MicroPMU
data, and a hybrid state estimator that leverages
SCADA, PMU, and AMI data may help expand observability
of the distribution grid. ComEd demonstrated the feasibility
of having a DLSE with data streaming from
MicroPMUs and established an analytics platform on the
cloud to analyze PMU and power quality data. The technical
merits of these technologies need further evaluation
and demonstrations in a field environment.
When it comes to endorsing emerging technologies for
real-time operation, an IT architecture engagement assessment
could be another roadblock. This process, created for a
utility's IT team to evaluate new technologies, can be combined
into an existing OT-IT architecture. During this process,
the NERC CIP rules are strictly followed, and some
utilities may have stricter ones for security measures. New
technologies may take months or even years to secure final
approval. Expediting an architecture engagement review
will greatly help with new technology integration, but this
will not happen without cross-industry collaboration and
standard making.
Vendor compatibility has been a long-time issue in the
power industry. Although some compatibility issues come
from intentional technical barriers, most of them reside
within software control systems, hardware design, or
communication architectures due to business preferences.
This creates financial burdens for utilities when adopting
76
IEEE Electrification Magazine / DECEMBER 2022
different grid solutions and results in inconvenience for
customers when selecting technologies. Some utilities are
pioneering the open source platform, aiming to resolve
these compatibility issues through standardizing communication
protocols and application programming interfaces,
such as OpenFMB. Open source communities could
potentially be an answer, but it usually takes a long time
to have a full buy-in from utilities.
Conclusion
With support from federal, state, and local communities,
ComEd has enhanced its service to northern Illinois
customers by resolving different power supply
issues, significantly improving grid reliability, resilience,
and sustainability. The demonstration projects,
ranging from DERMSs, and MMCs to grid-edge sensors/
controllers, generate tremendous industry learnings,
and pave the way for ComEd to collaborate with both
industry and academic partners to realize a grid-edgeinspired,
community-oriented control framework for
the future grid.
Acknowledgment
The information, data, and work presented herein were
funded in part by the DOE under the MISST (DOE SHINES,
DE-EE0007166) and SIMPLE (DOE OE, DE-OE0000874)
awards.
For Further Reading
L. Strezoski, " Distributed energy resource management systems-DERMS:
State of the art and how to move forward, "
Wiley Interdisciplinary Rev., Energy Environ., early access, Aug. 23,
2022, doi: 10.1002/wene.460.
K. P. Schneider et al., " A framework for coordinated selfassembly
of networked microgrids using consensus
algorithms, " IEEE Access, vol. 10, pp. 3864-3878, Jan. 2022, doi:
10.1109/ACCESS.2021.3132253.
N. Gurung et al., " Sensors with intelligent measurement
platform for monitoring and control in distribution circuits, "
in Proc. 2020 IEEE Power Energy Soc. General Meeting (PESGM),
pp. 1-5, doi: 10.1109/PESGM41954.2020.9281511.
N. Gurung et al., " Microgrid-integrated solar-storage technology
(MISST), " Commonwealth Edison, Chicago, IL, USA,
Tech. Rep. DOE-ComEd-7166, 2022.
Biographies
Honghao Zheng (honghao.zheng@comed.com) is with Commonwealth
Edison, Oak Brook Terrace, Illinois, 60181, USA.
Junhui Zhao (junhui.zhao@eversource.com) is with Eversource
Energy, Berlin, CT 06037 USA.
Niroj Gurung (niroj.gurung@comed.com) is with Commonwealth
Edison, Oak Brook Terrace, IL 60181 USA.
Ryan Burg (ryan.s.burg@comed.com) is with Commonwealth
Edison, Oak Brook Terrace, IL 60181 USA.
Paul Pabst (paul.pabst@comed.com) is with Commonwealth
Edison, Oak Brook Terrace, IL 60181 USA.
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