Real time control of a low voltage microgrid through a Distribution Management System

The technological, economical and social changes of the last years had an impressive impact in the electrical energy world. The improvement in information and communication technologies, the liberalization of the energy market, the appearance of active customers and the growing spread of renewables have required to systems operators to recognize and manage new scenarios. Nowadays, it is globally accepted that distribution systems are the core of this change, which will lead to the realization of the smartgrid concept. As the key field of the transition is represented by the distribution system, the main role is played by Distribution System Operators (DSOs). They are asked to modernize their medium and low voltage networks and to adopt advanced control and management systems. Modern Distribution Management Systems (DMSs) answer this request, by providing a valuable and effective support to system operators, thanks to advanced functionalities, embedded on board, which support the exploitation of unpredictable resources (as renewable generation), controllable devices (distributed generators and storage systems) or active customers. In this context this paper aims to describe the implementation of a DMS for the real time control of a low voltage microgrid, focusing on the communication architecture and on the routine of the embedded advanced functionalities.