Keynote speaker:
Pierluigi Siano, University of Salerno
Talk Title
An IoT Architecture for a Virtual Power Plant Aggregator
Summary
The transition towards an electricity system with a growing presence of non-programmable Renewable Energy Sources (RESs) systems requires not only the implementation of modern control systems and equipment, able to manage bidirectional power flows according to the Smart Grid paradigm, but also the adoption of novel distribution electrical system structures and/or new frameworks for the energy management and the electricity market scenarios, where resources considered up to now unable to provide ancillary services may participate as new flexible Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) that the power system requires, including non-programmable renewable sources, and demand.
A Smart Grid integrates the actions of all actors connected to it, such as generators, suppliers, aggregators, consumers, in order to efficiently deliver sustainable, economic and secure electricity supplies. It uses information and communication technology on top of the electric network to improve the reliability, security, and efficiency (both economic and energy) of the electric system. To achieve this, it is also required the deployment of sensors and smart metering for collecting data across the grid from DERs and storage systems at any point of the network, especially integration at the consumer/prosumer level.
Thus, it creates the opportunity for any consumer/prosumer on the grid to become an energy/power supplier and take part in energy trading mechanism. This is the key for consumers to be converted into “active energy citizens”. An essential role is played by Demand Response which denotes variations of the electric consumption by users in response to the energy price changes over the time, or in the presence of financial incentives and reliability signals.
In this complex environment, the centralized approach used in traditional power systems is no longer possible because both prosumers and active users would like to take part in energy transactions, and a decentralized approach based on transactive energy systems (TESs) and Peer-to-Peer (P2P) energy transactions should be adopted. In this context, the Distributed Ledger Technology (DLT), based on the blockchain concept arises as the most promising solution to enable smart contracts between prosumers and active users, which are safely guarded in blocks with cryptographic hashes.
Keywords
Blockchain, distributed ledger technology, demand response, smart grid, microgrid, peer-to-peer transactions, smart contracts, transactive energy, local energy market, prosumer, aggregator, battery
Speaker Short Bio
Pierluigi Siano (M’09–SM’14) received the M.Sc. degree in electronic engineering and the Ph.D. degree in information and electrical engineering from the University of Salerno, Salerno, Italy, in 2001 and 2006, respectively. He is a Professor and Scientific Director of the Smart Grids and Smart Cities Laboratory with the Department of Management & Innovation Systems, University of Salerno. His research activities are centered on demand response, on the integration of distributed energy resources in smart grids and on planning and management of power systems. He has co-authored more than 450 papers including more than 250 international journal papers that received more than 8400 citations with an H-index equal to 46. He received the award as 2019 Highly cited Researcher by ISI Web of Science Group. He has been the Chair of the IES TC on Smart Grids. He is Editor for the Power & Energy Society Section of IEEE Access, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL ELECTRONICS, Open Journal of the IEEE IES and of IET Renewable Power Generation.