Enhanced reliability in AC/DC hybrid networks by predictive Energy Management System

The integration of large fractions of renewable energy into the energy system is leading to rethinking the structure of the power systems, so to incorporate both Alternating Current (AC) and Direct Current (DC) networks and components. However, the larger penetration of decentralised solutions and storage necessarily causes an increased complexity of the system that shall be accurately managed by the Energy Management Systems (EMS) that control and monitor both AC and DC assets, including their working status. In fact, reliability issues intrinsically arise when a large number of assets are used, thus modern EMS shall properly evaluate the intrinsic reliability of a given output. This study proposes a predictive EMS that not only optimises the dispatch of AC/DC networks but also estimates the expected reliability level of the optimised scheduling. The reliability obtained with the proposed EMS is then compared to the one obtained with a standard rule-based dispatching method. A numerical case study for a metro station confirms the higher reliability enabled by the predictive EMS.