Load following functions using distributed energy resources

Technology improvements in fuel cells, microturbines and energy storage devices have provided the opportunity for dispersed energy resources at the distribution level. At the same time, deregulation has begun to allow for the provision of various ancillary services, such as, load following. This paper investigates some possible approaches to load following, at the distribution level. An algorithm is proposed for the fast three phase load flow calculations needed to simulate the slow dynamics of load following. We simulate a typical distribution system where several distributed energy resources have been added. Using simplified dynamics for the sources and loads, strategies to provide load following without increased unbalance are suggested. We identify modeling improvements that are needed to fully investigate these algorithms.