USE CASE 8 – Mountainous valley grid operating in island mode

In this use case, the operation of a portion of MV network in islanded mode (i.e., disconnected from the main power system) will studied and tested on field. The islanded operation will be made possible through the use of the active power control capabilities of Distributed Generators displaced on the MV network in the area of the experiment (e.g. hydro power plants). To this purpose, issues relevant both to the power balancing control and to the voltage profiles controls will be deepened in the pilot. Proper selection of the portion of network to be enabled to the islanded operation is key, since the generator(s) having in charge the frequency and voltage control of the electrical island must supply all local loads and provide them enough with flexibility to manage all potential power fluctuations. Proper control logics needs to be developed, taking into account the dynamic aspects of the control. In addition, power fluctuations of load/generation aggregate have to be predicted in advance by proper forecasting algorithms.