IEEE Electrification - September 2021 - 21

for supplying communities. Note that a microgrid has a
clear electric boundary and can be operated in either gridconnected
or off-grid modes. Or HESs can be operated as
virtual power plants (VPPs) for trading aggregated capacities
from different kinds of energy resources. Compared
with microgrids, VPPs can be viewed as more instrumental
as a clear service boundary is not required and there is
no need for a VPP to disconnect/resynchronize from the
main grid.
Evolution of Demand-side Grid Services
Table 2 provides a list of grid services that can be provided
by the LC resources for three main grid operation modes:
normal, emergency, and restoration. Used as an example to
illustrate the trend of the revolution, this categorization is
by no means exhaustive or conclusive. However, it helps to
explain: 1) services traditionally allowing load-side participation,
2) services now allowing load-side participation, and
3) services that can be provided via LC in the near future.
In the past, LC resources were mostly passive, so
many earlier load-side grid services are also " responsive. "
Now, enabled by the maturity of communication
and information technologies, two-way communication
links can be established at a very low cost. IoT technologies
and powerful microprocessors with on-device computing
platforms further accelerate the deployment of
the advanced metering infrastructure and are pushing
the situation awareness toward the grid edge, i.e.,
toward traditionally largely " invisible " power distribution
grids. For example, smart-meter coverage has
increased drastically from 0% to 57% coverage in the
United States based on the recently released report
" 2020 Assessment of Smart Metering and DR " prepared
by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).
After the smart meter made the demand-side services
observable and measurable, two demand-side services
thrive: peak shaving and load shifting, both are incentivized
by the time-varying rates (e.g., time-of-use rate,
TABLE 2. Demand-side grid services.
Operation Mode
Normal grid
operation mode
Demand-Side Grid Services
Peak shaving and load shifting
Renewable self-consumption
Renewable output smoothing
Voltage regulation
Emergency
grid operation mode
Regulation and load-following
Ramping services
Rolling blackout
Frequency response
Fast frequency response
Voltage support
Reconfiguration
Grid restoration
Microgrid islanding operation
Blackstart
Cold-load pickup
Microgrid resynchronization
Frequency support
Voltage support
Ramping support
Existing
New
Futuristic
N/A
Building Level
Residential
Existing
New
New
Futuristic
N/A
N/A
Futuristic
Futuristic
Futuristic
Futuristic
N/A
Futuristic
N/A
N/A
Futuristic
Futuristic
Futuristic
Futuristic
Commercial
Existing
New
New
Futuristic
N/A
N/A
Futuristic
Futuristic
Futuristic
Futuristic
N/A
New
Futuristic
Futuristic
New
Futuristic
Futuristic
Futuristic
Grid service existed before the 2010s
Grid service enabled in the past 10 years
Grid service not available now but may be enabled in the near future
Grid service may not be relevant
IEEE Electrification Magazine / SEPTEMBER 2021
21
Substation
Level
Existing
N/A
New
Existing
N/A
N/A
Existing
Futuristic
Futuristic
Futuristic
Existing
New
Existing
Existing
New
Futuristic
Futuristic
Futuristic
Regional Grid
Level
Existing
N/A
New
Futuristic
New
New
Existing
Existing
New
Futuristic
Existing
N/A
Existing
N/A
N/A
Futuristic
Futuristic
Futuristic
IEEE Electrification - September 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of IEEE Electrification - September 2021
