Navigating TSO-DSO Operational and Institutional Challenges
September 22 2:30 pm (CET)
TSO-DSO Coordination: Fostering Demand Side Flexibility for Optimal Operation of the Overall Power System
Micael Simões
Researcher at INESC TEC
Institutional drift in power system expansion planning
Bálint Hartmann
Senior research fellow, BME FASTER Research Group​
The rapid deployment of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) at the distribution level brings valuable flexibility that is essential for power systems with high shares of Renewable Energy Sources (RESs). Yet, this flexibility remains underutilized because it is not systematically shared with the transmission system. To address this, effective coordination between Transmission System Operators (TSOs) and Distribution System Operators (DSOs) is needed. In this presentation, we compare two main coordination paradigms discussed in the literature: hierarchical approaches, where the TSO accesses DN flexibility through pre-characterized feasible regions, and distributed approaches, where TSOs and DSOs iteratively exchange information to co-optimize system operation. The results highlight important trade-offs between simplicity, efficiency, and scalability, showing that coordinated TSO–DSO operation is a crucial step for enabling large-scale renewable integration.
Institutional drift refers to slow, formally unnoticeable change in the way an institution actually works, even though its official rules stay the same. The formal rules and procedures of power system expansion planning have stayed remarkably stable, while the technological, climatic, and policy environment around them has changed at break‑neck speed. Expansion rules optimised for yesterday’s incremental reliability fixes now gate the energy‑transition build‑out. Regulators are racing to retrofit (cluster studies, Order 1920, EU Action Plan for Grids), but those reforms themselves testify that institutional drift let the gap grow for a decade first.
The presentation will use 15-years of Hungarian network developments plans, to showcase the phenomenon of institutional drift and to highlight why a change of mindset might be necessary in this field.
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ABOUT THE SPEAKERS & MODERATOR
Micael Simões, researcher at INESC TEC
Micael Simões, MSc, currently works at INESC TEC and is pursuing a PhD in Sustainable Energy Systems at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Porto. His areas of interest include integration of application of optimization methods to the operation and planning of electric power systems in the presence of renewable energy sources, energy storage systems, and active consumers.
Bálint Hartman, senior research fellow, BME FASTER Research Group
Dr. Bálint Hartmann is a senior research fellow at Budapest University of Economics (BME), and at the HUN-REN Centre for Energy Research. He received his M.Sc. degree, Ph.D. degree and habilitation from in 2008, 2013 and 2022, respectively.
He founded the ‘FASTER (Future Applications of Sustainable Transmission and distribution Energy Research) Research Group’ at BME in 2016. The group focuses on the static and dynamic examination of electricity transmission and distribution systems, integration of renewable energy sources and energy storage systems into the electricity infrastructure, smart grids, the topological examination of the electricity systems, machine learning, sustainability, multi-energy systems, and network modelling.
He has published over 200 research papers. Besides acedemic research, his is active in R&D&I projects on national and international level. He undertook various tasks in scientific societies, most importantly leading the Student Association of Energy between 2008–2010, serving as a board member of the Hungarian Electrotechnical Association between 2013–2019, and being the chair of IEEE PES Hungary Chapter between 2019-2021. He was selected to be a member of the Academy of Young Researchers, Hungary in 2020 with a 5-year mandate, where he served two years as the member of the board.
Filipe Joel Soares, researcher at INESC TEC
Filipe Joel Soares received the Physics degree (five-year course) from the Faculty of Sciences and an Electrical Engineering (Renewable Energies) Postgrad from Porto University, Porto, Portugal, in 2004 and 2007, respectively. He also received the Ph.D. degree in Sustainable Energy Systems, in the MIT Portugal Program, from Porto University, Porto, Portugal, in 2012. Currently he is a Senior Researcher at INESC TEC and Assistant Professor in the Lusophone University of Porto. His research activity is directed towards the integration of distributed energy resources (i.e. controllable loads, electric vehicles, renewable energy sources and stationary storage) in distribution grids, as well as to the development of advanced algorithms and functionalities for their management and participation in electricity markets. He is author of more than 50 papers in international journals and conferences.
The Power & Energy webinars are an INESC TEC initiative designed to present and discuss ideas, expected outcomes, and results regarding future energy systems. Each webinar will focus on different themes and welcome two speakers from INESC TEC or other invited institutions.
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