Voltage Management at Elia Group

RFP – VoltControl

Both TSOs of the Elia Group are expecting upcoming challenges in terms of voltage support. On one hand, we see an increasing dynamic and static Mvar demand caused by more volatile grid loading. On the other hand, high shares of renewables push conventional plants out of the market and a coal & nuclear phase out is arriving. This means the complexity to deliver this increasing Mvar demand rises. Summarizing this means that voltage management will become more complex due to an increasing number of widely spread active devices, and an increasing number of decisions to be taken in short timeframe.

Because of these reasons, we are investigating the need for an efficient and automatic voltage management tool. In the first phase, the tool will be used as decision support for the Elia Group operators, to cope with the complexity of the voltage control actions. In a final and long-term perspective, the tool could be used without validation of the operator. This means that it should be capable for automatically taking actions once trust is gained or acceptance is achieved, which puts requirements on the robustness of the tool.

The core of this automated voltage management tool will be the optimizer (e.g., grid topology, assets and set points). The resulting optimization measures will be applied in multiple periods of operational planning and online operation.

Update 09/12 – Please note that the dates for the challenge have been updated

All information on this challenge can be found in the document RFP – VoltControl.
Please do not use the contact form on the right, but proceed as indicated in the document when applying for the project.