Cyber-Resilient Distributed Energy Resource Control Algorithms for Smart Distribution Grids

This paper focuses on the development of cyber-resilient gradient-based optimisation algorithms and theoretical proof for grid-interactive distributed energy resource (DER) control to enable two grid services of virtual power plants (VPPs) dispatch and grid voltage regulation, considering the communication and security impacts. Firstly, the combined DER dispatch and voltage regulation as a real-time gradient-based optimisation problem is recapped. Thereafter, we consider a probabilistic traffic model to characterise packet delays and loss in a communication network, and study how the delays enter the process of information exchange among the grid measurement units, local DER controllers and the grid control centre that execute this control algorithm in a coordinated manner. Then, a strategy combining delay thresholds and message update rules is proposed to immunity the asynchrony resulting from the communications traffic and it avoids possible numerical instabilities and sensitivities of the power tracking and voltage regulation capabilities, resulting as cyber-resilient DER control algorithms. Additionally, their convergence is theoretically proved. Effectiveness of proposed cyber-resilient algorithms has been validated on the IEEE 37-bus system in terms of convergence, VPP tracking and voltage regulation performance for smart distribution systems with high penetration of DERs.