With the influx of solar power and electric vehicles, energy generation and consumption no longer adhere to traditional supply-demand roles.
This is where Distribution System Operator (DSO) come in.It is the connection between energy generation and consumers.
In an electrical grid, there must be a permanent balance between generation and consumption to guarantee a stable supply. In the old world, the generation was adjusted to the changing needs of the consumers.
Today the energy transition is replacing the traditional, central nuclear and carbon-based energy with decentralized renewable resources. This disturbs the generation-consumption balance, for example PV installations generate energy when the sun is shining, and not when energy is needed. This has completely transformed the role of the DSO today and tomorrow. They are being driven by the 4 Ds: decentralization, deregulation, decentralization, and decarbonization.
Companies like DEPsys and Greenbird are working to update the way DSOs manage the grid — making them smarter and more capable of maintaining a balance between generation and consumption.
DEPsys has developed GridEye, a system that identifies the network conditions in real-time, and that orchestrates all the stakeholders of a local area, such as PV installations, charging infrastructure, and energy storage, with the goal of a stable and safe power supply for everybody.
Greenbird is a software company headquartered in Oslo, Norway and provides with Metercloud a big data integration platform managing the data flows accelerating the digital transformation for utilities.
Electricity will be the main energy vector in the decarbonized world, and everybody will be able to generate and sell electricity in a very dynamic and independent manner. The distribution network will have to absorb all this energy, which is only possible with intelligent orchestration systems.
Reference – Cleantechnica, Wikipedia, Quora, EnergyWiki