Enlisting conventional power electronic devices to improve stability and security through distributed load shedding and energy storage

Load shedding is employed by grid operators when power demand abruptly exceeds generation supply. An additional layer of load shedding is now economically feasible to deploy at the end-customer level. The proliferation of conventional power electronic equipment, such as solar inverters and distributed energy devices, could enable fast, simple and secure distributed load shedding. Distributed load shedding schemes could augment existing centralized schemes and be deployed without communication or cybersecurity systems. This paper develops a control hierarchy for distributed load shedding and energy storage dispatch that is consistent with existing load shedding procedures. A transient simulation is developed that illustrates how these schemes could increase stability and reduce the risk and frequency of wide area load shedding events. In addition, the impact and efficacy of these schemes are examined in combination with distributed generation. Lastly, potential regulatory action and implementation activities to deploy such schemes are developed.