Distribution grid planning

After years of limited investment in electrical infrastructure, many network owners face a number of challenges to maintain a secure and economical operation of their networks in the future. To achieve a secure, reliable, efficient and economical performance, the main services offered by Siemens PTI are:

• ­Identification of weak points in the existing system
• ­Development of an optimal network concept
• ­Verification of an appropriate system performance by analyzing defined KPIs
• ­Master plan towards an optimized network concept ensuring optimal investment utilization
• Reduction of costs by using standardized equipment and suitable asset management strategies
  

Successful integration of distributed energy resources (DER) into distribution networks relies heavily on effective planning and operation strategies. Siemens PTI provides a wide spectrum of consulting services covering both decentralized energy management and active network analysis for optimized inter-connection and operation strategies:

• ­Evaluation of techno-economically optimized DER placement and integration (sizing and siting)
• ­Distribution system analyses to ensure reliable power supply
• Interconnection studies to ensure compliance with grid codes
  
• Business case studies to leverage (new) businesses, roles and applications
  

Electromobility will have a large impact on present distribution networks. Today’s existing low voltage and medium voltage networks must be developed to cope with the future requirements resulting from the integration of large numbers of charging poles as well as fast charging stations for electromobility. Siemens PTI provides the full range of necessary knowledge and tools to:

• increase the “hosting capacity” of existing networks for electric vehicles,
• determine optimal and cost-efficient solutions for upcoming challenges and identify necessary technologies,
• improve network performance by considering the integration of charging control into intelligent management systems.

Smart grids are the basis for developing future transmission and distribution networks as highly flexible, reliable and sustainable systems. Siemens PTI develops optimal network structures and smart grid concepts considering: 

• ­application of innovative technologies, e.g. energy storage devices, power electronics, or electric vehicles
• use of communication technologies to improve observability and controllability of the networks,
• development of intelligent applications, protection and automation concepts,
• high security of supply and network performance,
• design of new network structures, e.g. microgrids, DC networks, overlay transmission grids.

Distributed energy systems (DES) and digitalization are driving the transformation of the energy world. Siemens PTI provides an integrated approach for the DES design to evaluate the technical feasibility while considering economic expectations.

• System definition: data acquisition and aggregation
• Generation analysis: simulation of generation mix
• Network analysis: modeling of electrical target network and in-depth network simulation
• Supply system analysis: iterative integration of generation and network analysis for optimized system design
• Detailed implementation roadmap

Through increasing decentralized transmission, compliance of the voltage quality of public networks becomes more and more challenging. Siemens PTI relies on an optimization approach, which provides the greatest technical reliability and can also be put into practice in an economical manner.

• Determining the number, type, properties and possible location of newly required voltage regulation equipment
• ­Coordination with existing control systems
• Consideration of voltage control as optimization task and solution via optimization model and a newly developed optimization software