Voltage dependent pricing in DC distribution grids

A dominance of fluctuating renewable energy resources requires changes in the electric power system. The introduction of nodal variable prices to balance supply and demand is one option that requires the price to be known to all devices. In this paper a new method to determine the price based on the local nodal voltage is introduced. As more and more devices use direct current (DC) internally, the advantages of DC distribution grids are used. They allow a straight forward implementation of micro-grids, increasing reliability with distributed generation. Two different price curves are introduced: The 1/U price curve removes the loss-based market distortion in the grid but needs an additional nominal price for proper operation. It can be used in transmission and distribution grids. Secondly a linear price curve is introduced. The advantage of this price curve is that no additional communication is needed. It can be used in households as single price signal for hybrid AC/DC devices with only little additional costs.