Towards Distributed, Resilient, and Integrated Energy Systems

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Canada' action on climate change has mandated the urgent need to cut down greenhouse gas emissions from energy and transportation-the two most polluting sectors. Increasing the hosting capacity of distributed energy resources, electrification of transportation, and increasing the production of renewable fuel (e.g., hydrogen), are identified as the key low-carbon solutions. Yet, the widespread adoption of such technologies is creating a paradigm shift of the way energy is produced, traded, distributed, and utilized. Although such a shift is peerless, it is accompanied with serious technological implementation challenges that might reach the point of diminishing returns. To that end, the proposed research program seeks to advance knowledge and engineering practices through the development of timely and original solutions to key problems and integration barriers facing the energy sector during the evolution towards low-carbon systems. Specifically, the technical and economic aspects related to the design and operation practices of power, natural gas, and transport systems will be combined all together into a low-carbon and  integrated energy system (IES). In this regard, new optimization models for the design of IESs will be formulated. The optimization models will be utilized as a decision-making support toolbox to evaluate and enhance the technical and economic aspects associated with the adoption of IES in order to: (1) facilitate seamless integration for high penetration levels of renewable energy resources, (2) provide flexible operation options for the electricity and natural gas systems, and (3) increase the adoption of fuel cell electric vehicles to compete with battery-based ones through the provision of reliable and sustainable hydrogen fuelling stations. Also, a fully distributed communication platform will be developed to enhance message reliability, interoperability, and scalability among control units of IES by utilizing the Internet of Things technologies. The platform will be used to develop a blockchain-based transactive energy system and pricing mechanisms to control and manage distributed decision makings in IESs. Further, issues that would challenge the cyber-physical security of IESs will be investigated and innovative distributed solutions will be developed in order to strengthen the capability of IESs to prevent, and respond to and recover from cyber threats. The new knowledge and solutions generated throughout this research will begin to situate IES stakeholders in Canada at the forefront of this emerging energy future. The proposed IES framework will improve the grid reliability, resiliency, security, and facilitate seamless adoption for high penetration levels of renewable generation and electric vehicles. This will, in turn, help ensure cleaner, sustainable, and affordable delivery of energy, foundations for new market structures, and a higher service quality for customers in Canada.