IEEE Working Group on Load Aggregator and Distribution Market

Officers

Chair: Dr. Qixin Chen, Tsinghua University, China (2018-)
Vice-chair: Dr. Yi Wang, ETH Zurich, Switherland (2019-)

Scope

The trend for growing installation of distributed energy resources (DER) and incorporation of energy prosumers into the power grid necessitates load aggregators (LAs). An LA manages all resources within its territory and transacts with the transmission system operator on behalf of the DERs. An LA differs from a traditional load serving entity (LSE). The primary function of a traditional LSE is to purchase electricity from the wholesale market and power the loads, whereas an LA can go far beyond this because it manages both uncontrollable and flexible resources, and both generation and load resources. In terms of internal operation, an LA can operate and control its territory by allowing DERs to transact with each other (transactive energy). An LA can also directly control its internal resources by providing an upfront incentive to them. In terms of external connection, an LA can be regarded as a net load during most times but also serve as a generation asset when needed. An LA can also provide ancillary services to the bulk power system by exploiting the flexibility of its internal resources. The value an LA can deliver is not limited to the above. For example, an LA can also leverage the big data it collects from end users and provide customized services. In a word, an LA is expected to benefit all interested parties, including the transmission system operator, end users, and the LA itself.
Smart buildings, loads, and customer systems are key enablers of an LA. Smart buildings and loads are valuable assets that can interact with the LA and with other DERs. On the other side, an LA can translate the intelligence of buildings and loads into monetary gains for these smart prosumers and enhanced economy and reliability for the entire system. This working group will explore the following topics:

1. What roles should an LA play?

2. What are the current practices of LAs around the world?

3. What values can an LA deliver to stakeholders?

4. How can an LA interact with DERs, smart buildings and loads?

5. What technologies are needed for an LA to manage end users (e.g., DERs, smart buildings and loads)?

6. How to oversee and govern the behaviors of an LA?

7. How to incentivize end users to interact with an LA?

8. What are the economic, operational, and technical challenges and roadblocks that face an LA?

Ongoing Projects

1. Review on “Smart power distribution systems as cyber-physical-social systems”
   

Completed Projects

1. Monograph on “Smart Meter Data Analytics: Electricity Consumer Behavior Modeling, Aggregation, and Forecasting,” Springer Press, 2020.

2. Literature review of smart meter data analytics

Activities at PES Conferences

2019 PES General Meeting, Atlanta, GA, August 4-8, 2019

Panel Session: “Smart Meter Data Analytics in Retail Market”

Chairs: Qixin Chen, Yi Wang

1. “How big are cross-subsidies between our energy consumers?” – Thomas Morstyn, Oxford University, UK

2. “From EnergyCoupon to GridGuru” – Le Xie, Texas A&M University, US

3. “Valuing behind the distributed energy resources” – Ram Rajagopal, Stanford University, US

4. “Prosumer-based decentralized power supply” – Gregor Verbic, University of Sydney, Australia

5. “Personalized price design in retail market using smart meter data” – Yi Wang, ETH Zurich, Switzerland