IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2020 - 71

commands to comply with, the DR program. All these systems are included in a virtual private network (VPN) to
maintain a high level of cybersecurity.
In this project, the VTN platform is located at the University of Seville, and the VEN platform is at the Savona campus. The aggregator platform was developed and deployed by
Maps. Of course, security is another important concern. In
this PoC, the security constraint is implemented based on the
deployment of a VPN and the manual preregistration of VENs
in the VTN. Thus, the VTN allows only the preregistered
VENs to take part. Additionally, the Internet Protocol (IP) and
the VTN are preregistered in VENs that will participate in the
process. One of the future initiatives is to increase the cybersecurity to provide better and more reliable operation modes
of the OpenADR and EI protocols. Additionally, a local VEN
is connected to the University of Seville's infrastructure. This
VEN manages a smart grid lab with several technologies.
Although the DSO actions were simulated, the platform
associated with the VTN was designed modularly to provide
a DR automated server that was independent from the DSO
platform. In addition, the VTN and DRMS are designed as
independent modules. Thus, different types of DRMSs could
use the same VTN. The VTN given in Figure 9 provides
different APIs, some of which are oriented to serve VENs
while others serve higher systems, such as the DRMS. The
API includes different service sets offered to the VTN clients (DSO platform and DRMS), as described in the "The
OpenADR Standard Protocol and Other Alternatives" section. Additionally, the VTN maintains its configuration in
a cache memory, and, in case of a fault, the system could
get the most recent information from the persistence layer
manager, which is a hard disk that holds a copy of the VTN
status. The VTN is developed completely in Java.
The cache memory manager uses an information standard to maintain the VTN's data to facilitate the correct
operation of the system. The persistence layer manager
works in the background to reduce the influence over the
operation of VTN (decreasing the computational resources
consumption). The persistence layer is based on a different
technology to check the best option in this type of scenario.
This technology works in different parts of the process, storing information at different stages. The DRMS is deployed
across the VTN, providing an interface to administer the
VTN. The DRMS involves all the available services in the
VTN, and it enables the DRMS to send any command or
request to one or more VENs registered in the DR programs.

Testing the PoC
Several tests performed on the PoC showed that the FSs could
provide a new method for congestion management and grid
control. Table 1 lists the results of some of the tests performed
on the PoC during 2018. The outcomes show a consumption
reduction of roughly 50% for the periods during which the
FSs are running; these periods are specified in Table 1. The
FS has provided the possibility of congestion management,
september/october 2020

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Lagorio

Residences and Canteen

Marchi

New Residences

Branca

Electrical Substation

Locatelli

Thermal Station

Delfino

SEB

Library

figure 7. The Savona campus buildings.

and in a scenario with several VENs, it would be possible to
control several resources, implementing control of the DER
management strategy. In Table 1, there are several columns:
✔ "Trigger Date" contains the day on which the FS was
configured.
✔ "Trigger Hour" is the hour during which the FS was
configured.
✔ "Duration" measures the time beginning at the trigger
hour. This term is referenced as the "Offer Duration" in
Figure 10.
✔ "Offer" describes the energy reduction bid in watthours. This term is referenced as the "Reduction Offer"
in Figure 10.
✔ "Forecast Consumption" provides the expected energy
consumption in watt-hours.
✔ "Real Consumption" provides the final energy consumption in watt-hours during the period when the FS
is active.
✔ "Reduction" describes the decrease provided by the
application of the FS according to the forecast consumption. This reduction is provided in watt-hours and the percentage above the forecast consumption.
These tests were conducted to evaluate the suitability
of the corresponding properties of OpenADR to implement a CBP. In the test case, the PoC supports the normal
operation of the grid, harnessing flexibility from the aggregator. The future second stage is to determine, in a real scenario
with a high penetration of RESs and smart grid technology,
whether the protocol could operate for congestion relief. The
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IEEE Power & Energy Magazine - September/October 2020

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