Strengthening innovation and implementing new technologies

As a company of strategic importance to Poland's economic growth, PSE cares about the stability of the operational safety of the power system. The development of new technologies has a significant impact on safety issues, therefore our company conducts many activities intended to optimally use new technologies in the power sector.

For implementation of new technologies, the following are of utmost importance:

• cooperation with scientific and research institutes, governmental and non-governmental units, foreign organizations and domestic and foreign companies from the power sector,
• initiating, promoting and implementing new technical and organizational solutions, testing and supporting new technologies,
• use of national, European and international research programs.

• Building a Fundamental Market Model (FMR) combining the MC FB/ATC and LMP market models, a network model and a remedial action model for the synchronous area of Europe

The aim of the FMR project was to build a simulator of electricity market model covering selected European countries of our region. The fundamental model of the European power system in a nodal solution (i.e., at least the 220 kV and 400 kV grid for a large part of Europe) and the model of the generating units is as detailed as necessary to solve the Optimal Power Flow and Unit Commitment. task. This tool will improve the quality of NPS planning and operation under the conditions of meeting safety criteria and minimizing the cost of energy supply to consumers by implementing NPS planning and operation tools based on a complete network model and locational pricing of electricity.

The research part of the project was completed in 2021.

• EU-SysFlexresearch project, funded by the European Union under Horizon 2020program

In 2020, with the support of its subsidiary PSE Innowacje, PSE continued its work in the EU-SysFlex project, implemented with funding from the European Union under Horizon 2020 program.

The aim of the project is to develop principles for the management of the power system operation under conditions of a large share of RES generation and to analyze market solutions required to ensure the possibility of effective acquisition of new system services. The project will also develop information flow management principles to ensure effective operation of the new services.

• OneNet research project funded under Horizon 2020 program

In October 2020 PSE became one of the participants in the international One Network for Europe (OneNet) project, which aims to develop flexibility resources for power system management.

OneNet is a demonstration project for testing a market-based approach to procuring system services using flexibility resources connected to the distribution network. It is attended by representatives of European TSOs, DSOs, technology providers and research and academic bodies. Under the project, DSOs and TSOs will use services provided by customers and distributed generators and their aggregators. Various actions will be tested that can be used by operators - both DSOs and TSOs - to influence the power network to adjust the way it operates to changing network and balance conditions. The project is intended to develop, test and recommend solutions and mechanisms that will enable future use of flexibility resources. A key element of the project is testing the solutions developed in the demonstration implementations. They will involve the implementation of IT platforms used by market participants to provide services, which will be acquired by operators as needed. One of such areas will be created in Poland. The construction of the Polish demonstration area will be carried out by a consortium of Polish companies.

• Demonstration project in the scope of implementation of the NPS operational safety support system based on the Special Protection Scheme (SPS) and battery electricity storage

The project is intended to optimize wind farm generation to perform under the failure of critical coordinated grid elements (using energy storage facilities) when large wind generation is present. As of October 1, 2019, SPS operational testing was conducted to gather experience with the system.

In connection with the end of the monitoring period, on November 27, 2020, the Japanese government organization New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization transferred ownership of the SPS scheme equipment to PSE free of charge, and thus the project in this part was terminated.

The project also aims to confirm the feasibility of using battery-based hybrid electricity storage to provide system services, eliminate short-term fluctuations in wind farm generation, and price arbitrage. The project was funded in substantial part by the Japanese government's New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization (NEDO). The entire project, including the electricity storage, is expected to be completed in Q2 2021.

• Substantive support in the field of analyses concerning the integration processes of the European electricity markets

The aim of the project was to support PSE in the development of regional methodologies required by the Network Codes, related to the process of integration of European electricity markets. In the project, special attention was given to the development of the Flow-Based, capacity determination methodology, the cost allocation and coordination of countermeasures (redispatching & countertrading and phase shifter settings), and the decomposition of capacity flows into subcategories necessary for the application of the countermeasure cost allocation methodology.

This task included the preparation of analytical and visualization tools, including:

• database and software tools to aggregate and visualize data from the test Flow-Based Core process,
• modules for analysis and aggregation of data concerning trading flows, decomposition, division and mapping of costs, as well as input files for the Visualizer tool developed on their basis,
• a prototype of a tool for coordinating phase shifter settings with user and administrator manuals and a Visualizer tool with documentation.

The project ended in April 2020.

• Analysis of the dynamic properties of Power Guardian/SmartValve devices and their interaction with the transmission network

The purpose of this work was to determine the feasibility of using devices for the purpose of increasing the reactance of overhead transmission lines, which should result in the unloading of overhead lines in the NPS. The task enabled the verification of the suitability of the Power Guardian Smart Wires odevice and the characterization of the dynamic properties of devices of this type. Conducted simulations and analyses confirmed the validity of installing the devices in specific configurations of overhead lines and the beneficial influence of this class of devices on the dynamic states in the power system and on the operating conditions of the electronic line protection systems.

The project ended in March 2020.

• Testing protective properties of water-based paint systems for corrosion protection of supporting structures

The works included inspections of the condition of coatings made of water-based and mixed paints on pilot structures in the third year of operation, evaluation of the quality of coatings after a 3-year period of operation, and evaluation of the practical application of paints and mixed sets for protecting power grid supporting structures. In addition, a solution analysis, a market analysis of water-based paint products for applicability on power structures, and a cost comparison with organic solvent-based sets were also conducted

Inspections were performed on the following lines: Joachimów-Rogowiec and Rzeszów-Granica. After the renovation works and after a 3-year period of operation, it was found on the basis of the monitoring the condition of the coatings that there were no significant differences in the corrosion protection of the structure depending on the application of paints based on organic thinners (in mixed sets) as a primer layer in comparison with paints where the thinner is water. There was no blistering, cracking, peeling of coatings or corrosion of the subbase.

The project ended in June 2020.

• Development of a WAMS pilot plant at PSE

The aim of this work was to develop a new technical solution in the form of a prototype Phasor Data Concentrator (PDC) for aggregating signals from Phasor Measurement Unit (PMU). The motivation for the work was to prepare PSE for implementation of Wide Area Measurement System (WAMS). Implementation of WAMS will enable monitoring of phenomena accompanying dynamic states caused by changes in operating conditions of SEE, which features are not available in currently used SCADA type systems

The developed WAMS prototype has enabled interfacing with existing PMUs and will be able to be linked to future ones.

The following WAMS application areas are anticipated in PSE:

• monitoring of inter-area power swings (subharmonic oscillations),
• control of the isolation states of balanced asynchronous areas,
• identification of risks associated with interactions between facilities with "fast" HVDC system control capabilities at cross-border interconnections and offshore wind farm connections.

The project ended in December 2020.

• Optimization of the forecasting methodology and user interface in an IT tool for network loss forecasting

The overriding objectives of the project were to optimize the network loss forecasting methodology, which was intended to be achieved by modernizing the model (tool) for short-term forecasting, i.e. day D+1, and to develop a new methodology for long-term forecasting (for the period from D+2 days to D+48 months).

One of the additional objectives of the project was to develop and test an alternative method for determining the level of energy purchases to cover balance losses. The current practice demands that loss volume forecasts are determined first, and then a decomposition into individual exchange products is performed. The project involved developing the current methodology towards minimizing the expected value of the cost of covering balance losses using integer optimization.

The effects and benefits of the works:

1. Development of models, with respect to the forecast horizon, using the GSS (Grid Loss Graph) information tool for forecasting transmission grid losses;
2. Improving the effectiveness of short-term horizon forecasting using the GSS IT tool;
3. Expansion of the GSS tool to include: a module that performs post-factum analyses, a visualization of the UI decomposition table, and a result visualization section and a section that exports UI results;
4. Extension of the GSS tool with the functionality for generation of automatic reports;
5. Concept of a model to optimize energy purchase to cover balancing losses developed in a development environment.

The project ended in December 2020. It is being considered for continuation in 2021.

• Development of a methodology for modeling and analysis of high-frequency phenomena in the transmission system

The aim of the work was to develop a new methodology used in PSE in the field of modeling and analysis of high-frequency phenomena for decision-making in investment and operational processes.

One of the overriding objectives of the TSO is to ensure the required parameters of reliability of energy supplies, among other things through correct coordination of the insulation of instruments and equipment in the transmission grid infrastructure. The preparation of technical requirements in the investment processes, e.g. at the stage of the Terms of Reference, for the coordination of insulation and protection levels of substation equipment is mainly based on approximate mathematical formulas supported by the experience and expertise of PSE employees. On the other hand, at the operating stage, high-frequency phenomena are observed, for which it is difficult to identify the source solely on the basis of records of disturbance recorders and power quality analyzers. Unusual cases, requiring detailed simulation analyses, were outsourced, with the data available from PSE needed to build a proper simulation model often scattered and incomplete.

OAppropriate risk management in the field of insulation coordination and power quality assurance required the development of an effective method for building a simulation model of the national transmission system with a specified accuracy of representation of the considered phenomena. It also required analyses to make decisions in the various investment and operation processes.

The project ended in December 2020.

Due to dynamic changes in the area of power technologies and systems, securing power supply reliability and ensuring proper quality of supplied electricity, PSE needs close and extensive R&D cooperation with scientific and academic bodies.

This cooperation consists in the exchange of knowledge and experience, but also boils down to the implementation of specific research and development projects related to financial outlays. Conducting research, and especially implementation of new technical solutions, is connected with incurring expenditures on modernization of transmission infrastructure and broadly understood ICT infrastructure.

Each year, our company allocates between PLN 5 to 10 million for research projects implemented using the R&D budget.