Planning Guidelines, Smart Grid, Smart Market, Demand Response, Operation Guidelines, European Smart Distribution Systems

The project SmartGuide aims at developing generalized planning and operation guidelines for Medium Voltage (MV) and Low Voltage (LV) grids of European Distribution System Operators (DSO). These guidelines will be facing the challenges of RES integration and considering the possibilities of smart grids and Active Network Management (ANM). For country specific frameworks the following has to be considered: - Present regulatory schemes, their application and focuses (e.g. quality of supply, integration of electric vehicles, demand response, renewable energy sources) - Upcoming challenges in the countries of the participating project partners (e.g. enhancing quality of supply, implementation of regulatory schemes, smart market applications) - Technical focuses of the DSOs up to the present day (e.g. existing planning rules) - Scenarios the DSOs are facing in the future (e.g. RES integration, demand response, provision of ancillary services like frequency control) The project focuses on further development of existing planning and operation guidelines, which in the past had the focus to accommodate loads at minimum cost for peak load conditions into existing MV and LV grids. If these rules continue to be applied, very costly solutions are envisaged for the future, as extreme scenarios (of minimum load and maximum generation) only happen a few hours per year. These concepts are further developed to innovative sustainable concepts using smart grid technologies. The aim is to integrate a higher share of decentralized energy generation, while reducing the conventional effort to expand the grid (e.g. by new cables). Furthermore, the smart grid technologies will help to match renewable energy generation and loads by enabling e.g. demand response. As it is foreseen that in the future centralized power plants will be, to some extent, replaced by decentralized energy generators, ancillary services like frequency control have to be coordinated and provided from flexible resources in distribution grids. These have to incorporate smart grid functionalities, which have to be integrated using innovative planning guidelines in substantial shares of distribution grids. By developing improved and generalized planning guidelines considering smart grid functionalities and smart market applications, differences in country- and DSO-specific planning processes are reduced. Firstly, this will lead to standardized target grid structures and secondly, requirements to smart grid technologies will be standardized, leading to cost reductions for the DSOs and the society. Country specific planning guidelines will be brought to different European countries, so that they are replicated, trialed, enhanced and scaled-up to business as usual.