Collaborative Research: A Nonbinding Commitment Modeling and Control for Deployment of Distributed Flexible Energy Resources

The recent advancements in emerging technologies and the greater integration of renewable energy resources have increased interest in distributed flexible energy resources. However, barriers to the deployment of these resources continue, due to difficulties in evaluating their contributions to the operability of the power grid, in designing compensation mechanisms, and in eliciting participation. This project will investigate market models with several novel features for encouraging the large-scale deployment of distributed flexible energy resources. In particular, neither the power aggregator nor the distributed energy resources will be required to commit in advance to buy or supply power at specific times. Instead, permissions to operate will be sent at random times to a subset of program participants, who then have the right but not the obligation to act. The research is expected to provide insights to utilities, regulators, and policy makers regarding the design of efficient and attractive deployment programs. Beyond the focus area of Clean Energy, the expected outcomes of this research will be applicable to many situations where events arrive at random times at a rate influenced by upper-level decisions.

This research aims to analyze the proposed market models in a general setting and to develop theory and algorithmic strategies for the class of two-level continuous-time stochastic control problems coupled with point processes. Statistical properties of point processes will make coordination schemes extensible to more aggregation levels and participants. By introducing randomness in opportunities to act in order to elicit behaviors, while remaining nonbinding for the participating resources, a favorable environment will be created to foster investment and the deployment of flexible resources at the level of the distribution network.