Products
Our products and services are available worldwide.
Our products can broadly be divided into three main categories:
Grid Agent (GA)
The Grid Agent (GA) or power flow manager is a unique solution of GridSteer.
It takes care of power flows in the grid with many objectives:
- Always keep the grid in safe operating conditions with respect to voltage fluctuations and current limits
- Optimally satisfy the willingness of each resource in the grid
- Provide real-time support to the upper grid
- frequency support, power dispatchability
In summary, below are the unique features of our Grid Agent (GA):
- Composable/Scalable (a lower-level GA can behave as RA for an higher-level GA)
- Explicit control of power flows using power setpoints (not based on frequency/droop)
- Keeps the controlled grid always safe with respect to voltage fluctuations and ampacity limits
- Inherently support for inertia-less grids (100% integration of inverter-based generators)
- Optimally uses the resources in the grid (for instance, it avoids curtailment of renewables and employs maximal use of storage/demand response)
- Provides real-time support to the upper grid (if connected), e.g., primary frequency support and operating a given grid as virtual power plant (VPP)
- Same software for all grids of different sizes and resources
- Single configuration at grid agent (no manual tuning of parameters of converters)
Resource agents (RAs)
Our resources agents (RAs) are tailored for the specific technology they are interfaced with.
Nevertheless, they all share similar objectives:
- Collect measurements from resources and control them using their own communication protocol
- Convert internal state of resource into a generic mathematical language that can be used by an external controller
- Communicate power setpoints received by the GridSteer Grid Agent to the resource
Below are the resource agents that we have already developed in-house and have expertise for. These resource agents (RAs) can be used standalone or with our Grid Agent (GA) for power management.
- Battery Agent (BA)
- Power flexibility calculation from the measurements and model of the battery
- Communicates the power setpoints (received from GA) to the battery converter
- Expresses battery willingness (to achieve a target setpoint) to an external controller (e.g., Grid agent)
- EV Charging Station Agent (EVCSA)
- Maximally satisfy the energy demand of connected EVs
- Minimise wearing to the battery
- Follow power setpoints from an external controller
- Provide real-time flexibility
- (Un)controllable PV Agent (UCPVA)
- In case of uncontrollable PV, predict the range of generated power in the next cycle
- In case of controllable PV, also, curtail the PV output power
- Super-capacitor Agent (SCA)
- Calculate the flexibility and uncertainty in operation
- Implement power setpoints requested by the Grid Agent
- HVAC Agent (HVACA)
- Compute the available flexibility and uncertainty
- Actuate the power setpoints received from the Grid Agent
With the acquired experience on the development of these agents, we can design and develop new agents for the technology you would like to exploit!
Energy Manager (EM)
Our Energy Manager (EM) is responsible for the daily operation of an electrical grid composed by heterogeneous resources.
The Energy Manager forecasts both the production and consumption of energy in the grid, accounts for the associated uncertainties in the forecast, and for the available flexibility of all energy resources.
Depending on the above and on the pre-defined objective, such as dispatchability or self-consumption, the EMS computes the optimal operation of all resources.
Our Energy Manager solution is directly compatible with GridSteer's Grid Agent (power manager).
While the Grid Agent takes care of performing the real-time actions to compensate for the forecasting errors of the EMS, the latter focuses on the time-dependant energy shifting.
Our services
GridSteer team can study a particular grid and provide clients with simulation studies, specially focused on the integration of renewable resources and storage systems. These studies can help the clients know more about their grid and its future evolution. If problems are expected in near or distant future, GridSteer can advise the best possible solution to tackle those problems. Before employing the GridSteer Grid Agent, we can evaluate the existing flexibility in the grid and, if needed, size and cite the additional required flexibility.