LAUSR

Modern day energy systems are evolving to be complex, interconnected and transactive systems, without clear demarcation between energy “producers” and “consumers”. This is aided by large-scale proliferation of renewables (both at a centralized scale as well as in more distributed settings such as rooftop solar) and the growing potential for demand-side flexibility. In this paper, we propose a mathematical framework which considers the interaction of energy flexibility and renewable generation in a transactive power system, where a grid operator can secure both generation and flexibility (storage) from centralized and/or distributed assets. Our results, derived under network-abstracted settings, mathematically relate the system operating cost to the available flexibility capacity. In addition, our proposed framework also characterizes the inflection point beyond which further addition of flexibility capacity do not affect cost of system operation. Furthermore, the relationship between the price spread in the grid, i.e., difference between maximum and minimum prices over the time horizon under consideration, and the available flexibility, is also commented upon. Finally, we demonstrate our findings on a modified IEEE 30 bus test network.