Digital Twin Framework for ADN Flexible Resources Assessment

The flexible resources of Active Distribution Networks (ADNs) is essential to increase both ADN's local flexibility but also flexibility capacities of the regional power system. More flexibility will help integration of large populations of Distributed Energy Resources (DER). In order to evaluate and improve the performance of investments on flexible resources, an assessment to the resource deployments and operation performances of ADN should be designed and executed. To step further, if this assessment can be executed persistently and continuously, it will help operators make operation decision. This article proposes a flexibility assessment scheme to monitor the effectiveness and functioning of the deployed ADN flexible resources. The scheme includes developing Digital Twin (DT) applications representing ADN. For simulation, real-world operating data are pumped from the physical distribution network (DN) to the DT applications. Performance indices of the status quo flexible resources are computed within our DT flexibility assessment framework. The main contribution of the proposed framework is to improve ADN flexibility planning and build a closed loop system including ADN planning, enactment, and operation. Further studies will focus on the typical scenario generations of Digital Twin.