IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2015 - 82

demonstration projects in which they are involved. The most
relevant european r&d projects on renewable integration
have also been contacted to exchange experiences and lessons
learned. The main technical problems dsOs face related to the

figure 6. An IGREENGrid demo in Austria (used with
permission).

figure 7. Venteea, a French IGREENGrid demonstration
project (source: Venteea project, ERDF-France, used with
permission).
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integration of dres are voltage and current constraints; lack
of observability; information and communications technology
(iCT) needs; and stability issues, up to and including immunity
to blackout. The main economic issue is the need to minimize
capital and operational expenses, as for dres integration these
expenses are not linked to any revenue from actual tariffs.
igreengrid demonstrators are testing different solutions to improve dres integration in distribution grids. The
project includes the following elements:
✔✔ several austrian smart grid projects, deployed in the salzburg "smart grid model" region and the Upper austria
"smart grid pioneer" region (see figure 6), will focus on
medium-scale der integration, including distributed generation (dg), "active buildings" in MV networks, and PV
and e-mobility integration in lV networks. hosting capacity can be significantly increased by the implementation of
voltage control concepts in MV networks without reinforcing the network (postponement); active voltage control can
thus be an alternative to grid reinforcement. smart meters
improve the awareness of consumers regarding energy
usage and generation. Voltage levels can be monitored in
real time and can be used as sensors for operational tasks.
by maximizing the consumption of locally generated
renewable electricity, dres can be more efficiently integrated into distribution networks.
✔✔ grids for future electricity supply, a german project, was
deployed in the eifel region of bitburg-Prüm in rhinelandPalatinate. it focused on the increased use of iCT as well as
other intelligent technologies ranging from voltage regulators based on power electronics to approaches utilizing
flexible supply voltages in the grid. innovative voltage controllers connected along the circuits and the use of active
voltage regulation units at MV/lV substations and at MV
feeders could contribute to regulation and optimization of
the voltage in the MV grid. The use of local biogas storage could buffer PV production peaks, helping to maintain local balance and optimizing the use of the available
capacity of network assets.
✔✔ dMs support Tools is a greek demonstration project
located in sperchiada. it is focused on using smart
metering infrastructure to support power system
operation and planning. One of the main objectives
of the project is to enhance the visibility of abnormal
situations in the grid to operators. such situations are
mainly caused by high dres penetration.
✔✔ Venteea, a french project located in the Champagneardenne region (see figure 7), is focused on creating
the best conditions to ensure an economically and
technically efficient integration of large wind generation in MV distribution networks. The project aims
to remove the main barriers hampering the massive
integration of res production on the networks and to
implement innovative solutions for energy-efficient
network operation of existing and future distribution
networks. it is testing tools allowing the control of
january/february 2015

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - January/February 2015