Integration of renewable power plants into the grid and active power control in smart grids

The continuous increase in technological applications will lead to a constant growth in electricity consumption. Due to the limited nature of fossil fuels, the importance of energy production from renewable sources is observed to increase day by day. Present-day electricity transmission and distribution networks are continuously expanded to meet the rising electricity demand. In the future, transforming the existing grid infrastructure into smart grid systems will become an inevitable necessity. Additionally, maintaining a balance between supply and demand forms the basis for reliable and stable operation of electricity grids, and hence, efforts are directed towards achieving a controlled equilibrium. Imbalances between supply and demand can result in frequency deviations, causing malfunctioning of electrical devices and, in some cases, leading to system disruptions as experienced in many grids. The concept of a smart grid is utilized to define technologies and methodologies that automatically and swiftly resolve faults, track demand, and ensure stability for more reliable power supply. It involves a paradigm shift from a grid dominated by centralized power plants to one that integrates distributed energy resources system-wide. As a result, forecasting load distribution, as straightforward as in conventional plants, becomes more challenging. In this study, a method is proposed for real-time control of active power (demand and supply balance). This method can be applied to smart grids, enabling real-time data exchange concerning production, demand, storage, market, environmental conditions, and other necessary parameters. Such data plays a vital role in decision-making related to real-time supply-demand balancing in smart grids. Furthermore, smart grids offer the possibility to dynamically balance supply and demand by leveraging the advantages of demand response and energy storage systems. To evaluate the proposed method, simulation using the DigSilent Power Factory program is targeted. The simulation tool is intended to utilize the DigSilent Programming Language (DPL) feature to code the decision-making program in addition to modeling an electric grid