Distribution System Operation with Transactive (DSO+T) Study

The DSO+T study, funded under DOE’s Office of Electricity, was launched in 2018 as a national impact study and focused on simulations of Texas’ primary power grid, operated by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas. The Texas grid offered an ideal infrastructure footprint for the study’s modeling and simulation objectives.

The study was designed to simulate and analyze a distribution system operator’s use of transactive energy mechanisms to engage the large-scale deployment of flexible distributed energy resources (DERs), such as air conditioners, water heaters, batteries, and electric vehicles, in the operation of the electric power system. The performance of transactive coordination was studied for two separate DER deployments: flexible loads (HVAC units and residential water heaters) and behind-the-meter batteries. The results of each transactive case were compared to a business-as-usual case and two different renewable generation cases—a moderate renewable generation scenario and a future higher-renewables scenario that included the deployment of rooftop solar photovoltaics and electric vehicles.

This assessment was conducted using a highly integrated co-simulation and valuation framework that encompassed the entire electrical delivery system from bulk system generation and transmission, through the distribution system, to the modeling of individual customer buildings and DERs. The study’s executive summary details the integrated system simulation platform, transactive coordination scheme, and economic valuation and results. Full details of the study can be found in the five-volume final report and associated publications listed at this link.