Estimating the Active and Reactive Power Flexibility Area at the TSO-DSO Interface
Open accessAbstract
The penetration of distributed renewable energy sources in the distribution grid is increasing considerably in the last years. This is one of the main causes that contributed to the growth of technical problems in both transmission and distribution systems. An effective solution to improve system security is to exploit the flexibility that can be provided by distributed energy resources (DER), which are mostly located at the distribution grids. Their location combined with the lack of power flow coordination at the system operators interface creates difficulties in taking advantage of these flexible resources. This paper presents a methodology based on the solution of a set of optimization problems that estimate the flexibility ranges at the distribution and transmission system operators (TSO-DSO) boundary nodes. The estimation is performed while considering the grid technical constraints and a maximum cost that the user is willing to pay. The novelty behind this approach comes from the development of flexibility cost maps, which allow the visualization of the impact of DER flexibility on the operating point at the TSO-DSO interface. The results are compared with a sampling method and suggest that a higher accuracy in the TSO-DSO information exchange process can be achieved through this approach.
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Flexibility mechanisms at the transmission system operator and distribution system operator interface are pivotal to leveraging distributed energy resources while addressing grid constraints.
“Furthermore, flexibility mechanisms at the Transmission System Operator (TSO) and the Distribution System Operator (DSO) interface are pivotal to leveraging distributed energy resources while addressing grid constraints [5].”
From Optimal Operation of Electric Vehicles to Enhance the Flexibility Provision in Active Distribution Grids (2025) · cites this paper as [5]
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A Review on TSO-DSO Coordination Models and Solution Techniques
Givisiez, A. G., Petrou, K., & Ochoa, L. F. (2020) · Electric Power Systems Research · doi:10.1016/j.epsr.2020.106659 · Cited by 200 · see citing works
“Only a few papers consider extra flexibility brought by devices such as OLTCs on their solution techniques [22, 35, 37-40 , Based on the above, it is possible to identify trends and gaps on the literature of TSO-DSO coordination models.”
Christensen, K., Jørgensen, B. N., & Ma, Z. G. (2025) · Sustainability · doi:10.3390/su17093847 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
“There is also scope to refine compensation mechanisms, shifting from a flat cost offset to more nuanced, market-based valuations of flexibility, as suggested by [46,49].”
Probabilistic Flexibility Aggregation of DERs for Ancillary Services Provision
Jacobs, M., & Paolone, M. (2026) · IEEE Transactions on Power Systems · doi:10.1109/tpwrs.2026.3671108 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Panagi, S., Therapontos, P., Spanias, C., & Aristidou, P. (2025) · 2025 IEEE Kiel PowerTech · doi:10.1109/powertech59965.2025.11180664
- Authors
- Silva, J., Sumaili, J., Bessa, R. J., Seca, L., Matos, M. A., Miranda, V., Caujolle, M., Goncer, B., & Sebastian-Viana, M.
- Affiliations
- INESC TEC (PT)
- Universidade do Porto (PT)
- EDF Lab Paris-Saclay (France) (FR)
- ORCID
- Venue
- IEEE Transactions on Power Systems
- Published
- 2018-09
- Volume
- 33
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 4741-4750
- ISSN
- 0885-8950 (ISSN-L)
- 1558-0679
- OpenAlex
- W2789709604
- Cited by
- 299
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 28 · 2025: 45 · 2024: 33 · 2023: 40 · 2022: 53 · 2021: 51 · 2020: 26 · 2019: 19 · 2018: 4
- FWCI
- 9.57
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- Locations
- IEEE Transactions on Power Systems (publishedVersion)
- Portuguese National Funding Agency for Science, Research and Technology (RCAAP Project by FCT) (submittedVersion, other-oa)
- Funders
- Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (SFRH/BD/124727/2016)
- European Commission under the seventh framework program (608 732)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Optimal Power Flow Distribution
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Electric Power System Optimization
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Electrical and Electronic Engineering › Smart Grid Energy Management
- Keywords
- distributed energy resources, distributed renewable energy, power flow coordination, distribution networks, transmission networks
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