IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2019 - 98

the grid modernization process can
help reduce unintended consequences
and lead to more rigorous approaches for
problem solving. For example, grid architecture could help ensure that a robust
sensing and communications platform
layer can support multiple decoupled
grid functions. Likewise, grid architecture is showing how to structure grids for
resilience in addition to the more traditional approach of component hardening
to improve grid resilience.
When grid architecture as a discipline was first introduced to the DOE in
2014, it was immediately recognized as
a new and superior way to think about
the entire electric power grid, not just the
circuits or the controls or the information systems, and as a means to manage
complex changes to the grid. The ability of grid architecture to address system
complexity began to be understood by
several state public utility commissions
by mid-2015, but it was first recognized
in a formal sense by the Hawai'i Public
Utilities Commission, which directed in
January 2017 that the Hawaiian Electric
Company (HECO) and its stakeholders
collectively examine the application of
such architectural concepts in the development of a grid modernization strategy.
The HECO strategy, approved by the
commission in June 2018, applies grid
architecture concepts to work through
design strategies needed to manage the
complex set of DERs envisioned for
Hawai'i. Other U.S. state regulatory
commissions and utilities have since
begun to apply DSPx materials and grid
architecture concepts in the development of their grid modernization plans.
We have also seen the early use of this in
other countries, including Australia, The
Netherlands, France, the United Kingdom, and Colombia.
There are three main principles of
grid architecture briefly addressed in
this article: coordination, scalability,
and layering. These principles are often overlooked in efforts to advance
grid capabilities, yet they are essential concepts in the structural analysis
leading to effective grid modernization
strategies. These are discussed in more
detail in this issue.
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Coordination is the process that causes
or enables a set of decentralized elements
to cooperate to solve a common problem.
The advent of mixed sets of DERs and
entities other than utilities that own or
manage them, such as aggregators, shifts
the engineering problem from one of
control to both control and coordination.
An important first step is to delineate the
respective roles and responsibilities of all
participants in grid operations and determine their needs with respect to business
objectives, market responsibilities, device
or system performance constraints, and
data requirements. The resulting analysis
should lead to the development of sensing, communication, control, and data
management schemes that permit coordination and observability under the full set
of anticipated grid conditions. A carefully
crafted coordination framework should
address interfacing requirements across
the transmission, distribution, and customer domains, including interoperability and grid code requirements. Existing
(legacy) coordination frameworks often
have problems, such as gaps and hidden
coupling, that can become problematic at
high levels of DER penetration.
Scalability is the ability of a system
to accommodate an expanding number
of endpoints or participants without
having to undertake major rework. We
can assume that each device or participant will have inherent performance capabilities and constraints as well as selfish interests, which may even change
quickly over time. The ability to scale
includes accommodating an increasing
number of DER devices in a way that
also permits optimization locally and
system wide. As is discussed in greater
detail in this issue, the application of
laminar coordination frameworks that
use a regular layered structure is one
approach for addressing the scaling and
optimization problem.
Layering and platform structure enable the application of fundamental
or commonly needed capabilities and
services to a variable set of uses or applications through well-defined interoperable interfaces. Many utility systems
are arranged in siloes, each vertically
structured with its own sensors and net-

works and coupled through back-end
data connectors. Siloes present significant system integration challenges and
make it difficult to easily add applications and functions. Even worse, siloes
may allow for a failure in one application silo to cascade through to the others,
a situation that is fundamentally antiresilient. Grid architecture shows how
to layer core system components into a
platform to serve multiple applications.
These core components, such as information management, sensing, and communications systems with the physical
grid, can then serve as a platform to
enable the full set of envisioned grid
functions, including those required for
convergence with other infrastructure.
The importance of the platform concept
is becoming widely recognized across
the industry, including by the Public
Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO)
in their PowerForward Roadmap initiative. As stated by PUCO Commissioner,
Vice-Chair M. Beth Trumbold:
U.S. DOE guidance on how to
tackle the complexities of a modern distribution grid in Ohio has
been instrumental in our PowerForward Roadmap. The PUCO
envisions the grid as a secure and
open platform that allows other
technologies and applications to
interface with it seamlessly; the
hard part is how to get there. Our
intention is to focus on the fundamentals of grid architecture,
a structural framework and process, and to work through these
complex issues in a logical way.
Ultimately, a determination of structural and functional requirements needed
to address policy and timing objectives
should be conducted early and throughout a grid modernization effort. Grid
architecture provides a disciplined approach to consider the set of structural
requirements fundamental to a holistic
planning process. Robust grid modernization strategies based on the application of these principles can then help set
the logic for technology selection and
sequencing in grid modernization implementation plans.
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IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2019

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