Electrical Power and Energy Systems 71 (2015) 51–59

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Electrical Power and Energy Systems

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ijepes

Decentralized congestion mitigation in HV distribution grids with large

penetration of renewable generation
Alberto Berizzi a, Cristian Bovo a, Valentin Ilea a,⇑, Marco Merlo a, Alessandro Miotti b, Fabio Zanellini b
a
Energy Department, Politecnico di Milano, Via LaMasa, 34, 20156 Milano, Italy
b
Infrastructure & Cities – Smart Grid, Siemens SpA., Via Vipiteno, 4, 20128 Milan, Italy

a r t i c l e i n f o a b s t r a c t

Article history: The integration of large amounts of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) is a great challenge for the operation
Received 13 November 2014 of current power systems. In the Italian HV distribution system the main threat to security is caused by
Received in revised form 29 January 2015 congestions that are likely to result in significant RES curtailment. This paper proposes an automatic pro-
Accepted 21 February 2015
cedure to be implemented in the Substations Automation Systems (SASs) to locally define control actions
to mitigate congestions in such a way that RES curtailment is minimized. The algorithm assumes a
reduced set of available data, simple computations and is especially designed to operate on-line as a
Keywords:
decentralized automation function. Hence, the methodology intentionally avoids burdensome computa-
Decentralized control
Substation automation
tions: it neither requires the knowledge of the complete network structure nor imposes any particularly
Congestion management strict requirement on the communication system. The effectiveness of the proposed methodology is
Renewable generation shown with reference to a real model of a section of the Italian 150 kV grid.
Smart grids Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Introduction and in the short-term [7–9]. RES integration in terms of variability

Modern power systems show an ever increasing exploitation of
Renewable Energy Sources (RES), especially wind and solar, which
are characterized by intermittency and high variability with time.
This results in many challenges regarding their integration into
power systems [1–3]. RES power plants used to be connected to
Medium Voltage (MV) distribution networks, but recently, given
their increasing size, they are also connected at higher voltage
levels [4]. In detail, they are connected to the High Voltage (HV)
distribution grids (e.g., in Italy from 132 to 150 kV). This part of
the grid links the Extreme High Voltage (EHV) transmission (220/
400 kV) to MV distribution grids and is structurally poorly meshed,
when compared to transmission systems. Due to their almost radi-
al structure and in analogy with the Low Voltage (LV) and MV net-
works, this part of the grid is known as HV Distribution grid (HVD).
In Italy, they typically form loops connecting two or three EHV sub-
stations of the transmission system, supplying several HV/MV sub-
stations on their way and collecting RES generation as well. A
single branch of the HVD system can stretch for many dozens of
kilometers.
This situation leads to different types of problems, that makes
challenging the integration of RES, both in the long-term [5,6]
⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 366 809 2499; fax: +39 08 2399 8566.
E-mail address: valentin.ilea@polimi.it (V. Ilea).
and its impact on the transmission level, e.g., reserve determina-
tion, imbalances, frequency and voltage control is dealt with in
several papers, e.g. [9]. However, from the HVD grid point of view,
the main challenge is how to manage the electric line overloading.
Recently, the Italian Transmission System Operator (TSO) reported
over 3000 h/year of congestions in some areas of the HVD system
where the RES penetration is high; this phenomenon is expected
to increase [10,11]. Today, the only way for the TSO to solve this
problem is to curtail RES generation, but the features of RES gen-
eration and some technical issues make the incidence of RES gen-
eration curtailment greater than necessary in order to be on the
safe side. On the contrary, the TSO’s goal is to limit curtailments
as much as possible, both because RES generation should be max-
imized and because the curtailment leads to a significant economic
penalty on the ancillary services market and due to unwithdrawn
RES energy.
Today, the Italian TSO manages congestions in the operational
planning (day-ahead) by scheduling the reduction or disconnection
of RES generation according to technical–economic criteria [12]. In
this respect, many interesting approaches have been proposed in
the literature [13–17] and adopted, for meshed transmission net-
works. Typically, such methods include complex mathematical
models and require a complete knowledge of the grid to perform
exact network computations. However, as it is difficult to predict
accurately the amount of the congestion and the time of

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ijepes.2015.02.023
0142-0615/Ó 2015 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
52 A. Berizzi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 71 (2015) 51–59
occurrence, the TSO typically has to curtail more RES generation
than what is actually needed in real-time, resulting in a large
amount of undelivered RES energy and, consequently, a high bill
to be paid by the TSO at the end of the year. In this regard, the
Italian state-owned company Gestore Servizi Energetici (GSE), a
company which provides support for RES generation, reports
[18,19] a total of approximately 270 GW h of undelivered wind
energy for 2012–2013 and an estimated corresponding bill for
the TSO of about 12 mil €. Most of the reported undelivered wind
energy was due to forced curtailed actions for congestion
mitigation.
In the long-term, congestion problems can be mitigated by net-
work reinforcement [10], but this option is not immediate and is
generally limited by environmental constraints; moreover, the
long-term planning of network reinforcements is likely to be
unsuitable to face the quickly-changing profiles of RES penetration
increase. A smart approach is therefore to develop an on-line,
decentralized, congestion management procedure that, according
to the current operating point and system topology, can cope in
real-time with the RES intermittency, minimizing the RES curtail-
ment needed in case of congestion as much as possible.
A few approaches have been studied in [20–23]. In [20,21], gen-
erators contribution to the congested line loading are found using
sensitivity matrices based on the network impedance matrix and
the Power Flow (PF) solution and the generators are rescheduled
accordingly to mitigate the congestion. In [22], generators are re-
dispatched in real-time by a centralized area supervisor. A linear
control law where the generator outputs are changed proportion-
ally to the magnitude of congestion is used. The slope of the linear
control is given by Power Transfer Distribution Factors (PTDF) [24]
computed by a DC PF. Finally, paper [23] proposes a real-time
method based on the sensitivities of the congested line complex
power with respect to the generator output. Like the other
approaches, the method requires the knowledge of the network
parameters and a PF solution. This is why, as the Authors state, this
method is limited to small radial networks and is not suitable for a
wide-area network.
The approaches proposed in [20–23] reflect a centralized
approach that requires real-time knowledge of the complete net-
work topology and data. In turn, this needs a complex communica-
tion system that, in real-time, collects the information and acts
according to the adopted control architecture. The approaches in
[20–23] are fit for the EHV transmission system which are already
equipped with a powerful centralized communication system that
allows the use of state estimation techniques to obtain complete
observability of the grid and, hence, an optimal performance of
the proposed algorithms [25]. However, technical limitations pre-
vent such control structures from being adopted for the HVD level
(132/150 kV) [25]: this part of the grid is less covered by an effi-
cient communication system and a complete and centralized
knowledge of the network is very difficult to achieve, if not impos-
sible. Hence, at this moment, implementing centralized approach-
es [20–23] requires huge investments in the communication
infrastructure. But, in the HVD grid, Substation Automation
Systems (SASs) are locally available for monitoring and supervision
of the substation and a limited set of data can be collected: (i) mea-
surements from the incoming lines and breaker status and (ii)
aggregated outputs at the Point of Common Coupling (PCC) from
the RES plants connected to the substation. Then, RES plants con-
trolling capabilities are currently very limited: in few cases, the
plant output can be continuously adjusted while generally it is dis-
cretely adjustable only by the connection or disconnection of one
or more generating units.
Finally, an additional issue to consider is the available substa-
tion hardware storing and computation capability, devoted to sev-
eral monitoring, control and protection functions, which are not
comparable with the computational power available at transmis-
sion control centers. In nowadays HV distribution substations, dif-
ferent hardware capabilities are available, depending on how
recent the substation is.
Under these circumstances, a methodology to handle these dif-
ficulties efficiently, cost-effectively and in a short-time horizon is
needed. This paper proposes a real-time congestion mitigation
methodology that fulfills these requirements: it is de-centralized,
it makes use of a reduced set of measurements locally available
and it is based on simple computations in order to cope with
both old and new substation hardware computational limits.
Therefore, the algorithm proposed in this paper has been designed
in such a way that it does not require the complete knowledge of
the system state or complex computations and finds out an approx-
imate suboptimal feasible and secure operating point, thus avoid-
ing additional investments into new hardware solutions. The
methodology is designed for the available substation hardware
together with other innovative functions [26] like voltage control
[27,28] and island feasibility [29].
Congestion mitigation procedure
The proposed congestion mitigation (CM) procedure is a decen-
tralized automation function designed to mitigate, in real-time,
congestions caused by the intermittency of RES generation in
HVD systems. The CM must be simple, so that it can be performed
by local intelligence (i.e. by the SASs) without knowing the state of
the complete power system, and, hence, without adopting mathe-
matical programming. Moreover, the overall curtailment must be
as low as possible, in order to preserve the production from RES,
and must not penalize generators able to provide regulation ser-
vices (e.g., generators providing a continuous real power regulation
band). Finally, it must be equitable, i.e., it must try as much as pos-
sible to share curtailment among RES generators.
The design of this procedure is carried out according to the
structure of HVD networks: they are poorly meshed with few con-
nections to the EHV transmission grid. In general, the HVD grids
can be divided into radial regions where power flows are in the
same direction, with RES generation distributed among the
region’s substations (Fig. 1). The network in Fig. 1 is connected in
several points to the highly meshed EHV network (the transform-
ers in the figure) and, therefore, current loops are created in the
HVD network with the EHV grid. Therefore, when one of the lines
is congested, the generators upstream the congestion and belong-
ing to the same radial region as the congested line have a major
influence on the congestion and, consequently, curtailing them will
help mitigate the congestion.
In the proposed CM procedure the SASs update their informa-
tion every 10 to 15 min: the curtailments can be applied with a
slow dynamic, avoiding dynamic stability issues. Due to the slow
dynamics involved, the CM procedure is considered a steady-state
Fig. 1. Example of a poorly meshed HVD network division into radial regions.
 A. Berizzi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 71 (2015) 51–59 53

procedure. Moreover, the slow action of the CM procedure is

allowed as in HVD networks it does not interfere with any protec-
tion system.
Under these circumstances, the proposed algorithm, in case of
congestion, consists in (i) identifying the upstream part of the radi-
al unidirectional power flow region; (ii) identifying the set of gen-
erators belonging to this region and carrying out the minimum
curtailment to solve the congestion.
Fig. 2. Example of SAS interrogation procedure.

Single line congestion case

First, the following limits are defined:

 The congestion limit – LIMmax – the maximum power or cur-
rent loading above which the line is to be considered congested
(in % with respect to, e.g., the thermal limit).
 The security limit – LIMdown – the power or current loading
below which the line is to be considered secure again, after
the CM (in % with respect to the same base used for LIMmax).
The CM goal is to bring the congested lines below LIMdown, when
LIMmax is violated, by minimum generation curtailment. The values
of LIMmax are customizable according to the specific scenarios in
which the congestions occur. If congestions are likely to occur in
N security conditions (e.g., high wind and low load scenarios) then
LIMmax can be set close or equal to the thermal limit. If congestions
occur mostly due to N  1 events (line trips) the CM can support
other faster control actions by setting LIMmax to a significantly low-
er value, computed taking into account the preventive or corrective
N  1 security criterion adopted; the latter is typically adopted by
the Italian TSO. However, the congestions to be mitigated by the
procedure are typically caused by the continuously increasing
penetration of RES in the HVD grids and, hence, are most likely
to occur in N security conditions; setting LIMmax near the thermal
limit is a justifiable choice. If, in case of N  1 events, the thermal
limit is violated in a more severe manner than in N security condi-
tions, the allowed slow action of the CM will result in the success-
ful mitigation of the congestion.
Since applying the CM procedure will bring the line loading to a
value lower but very near to LIMmax, the role of the security limit
LIMdown is to prevent the immediate re-charging of the line due
to a further and unpredicted increase of RES generation (e.g., due
to an increase in wind speed). The lower LIMdown, the higher the
probability that the line remains uncongested for a longer period
is. Usually, setting LIMdown a few % less than LIMmax is a good
compromise.
The main steps of the CM procedure are:
Step 1: each SAS continuously monitors the power flows in the
incoming lines of its substation. If a congestion shows up, i.e.,
LIMmax is violated, the SAS at the receiving end of the congested
line activates the CM procedure and becomes the Master SAS.
Step 2: the Master SAS identifies the set of power plants that
directly inject power into the congested feeder. For this, the
Master SAS initiates a chain-interrogation starting with the SAS
at the sending end of the congested line. Each SAS sends to the
upstream SAS a request for information about the generation
under its supervision. The chain continues toward the upstream
SASs (solid gray line in Fig. 2) until a bifurcation in the topology
or a reversion in the real power flow is encountered. At this point,
the communication flow reverses, the information is gradually col-
lected and sent to the Master SAS (dot-dashed gray line in Fig. 2). In
this manner, the radial region upstream the congested line togeth-
er with the associated set of power plants is identified by the
Master SAS. The interrogated SASs are further designated as Slave
SASs.
The designed interrogation procedure of Fig. 2 requires that
SASs exchange information between them and with the generation
plants under their control. However, the phenomenon dealt with is
a thermal issue and hence the dynamics involved are slow. This is
why the required communication system is not particularly
demanding in terms of dynamic performances, as it would be in
case of faults or emergency controls. For example, a GPRS or a
WAN network that assures data exchange with either the existing
SCADA system of the RES plant and with the other SAS could do the
job, without the need for, e.g., optic fibers.
The information required to the Slave SAS is:
 Pg,i,0 [MW] – the current output of the ith generator.
 LEVi,j, j = 1, . . ., Mdown,i – the feasible controllable outputs at
which the ith generator can be shed; they are dynamically
defined into Mdown,i controllable levels and modeled to be either
continuous or discrete according to the available technology.
Each LEVi,j is initially given in [%] with respect to the initial out-
put Pg,i,0 and then converted to MW. The levels are sorted in
descending order, i.e. LEVi,1 = Pg,i,0 > LEVi,2 > . . . > LEV i;Mdown;i .
Step 3: the Master SAS, based on the above information,
estimates the required total real power generation reduction
DPred [MW] needed to bring loading back to LIMdown as:
 
acc fact  LIMdown ½%
DPred ¼ Pcong line 1  ð1Þ
LDline ½%
where Pcong_line [MW] is the measured real power flow through the
congested line before CM, and LDline is the value of the measured
line loading before CM, in % like LIMdown such that LIMdown/LDline is
in pu of the same base value.
If acc_fact = 1, Eq. (1) gives the total MW curtailment required to
bring the line loading at LIMdown; if acc_fact < 1, this quantity takes
a higher value determining, theoretically, a larger than necessary
curtailment. But the sensitivities of the congested line loading to
the generator outputs are not always near to one: e.g., the gen-
eration at the last identified Slave SAS (Slave SAS 4 in Fig. 2) has
a significant influence on the identified radial region of the conges-
tion, but its effect is shared by other neighboring ‘‘radial regions’’,
due to its position. Secondly, the line loading is also marginally
determined by the reactive power (the power factor of the trans-
ferred power is close, but not equal, to 1) and the CM is not
designed to manage the reactive power of RES plants: they are usu-
ally operated at unitary power factor (in any case, according to the
grid code, they are obliged to operate with a minimum
cosumin = 0.95, inductive or capacitive) and trying to move reactive
power for CM could also cause voltage regulation problems. These
facts impose that the total curtailment, DPred, is larger than strictly
necessary, when acc_fact = 1. In the absence of more accurate infor-
mation (e.g. PTDFs) this issue is mitigated by the user-defined
parameter acc_fact set lower than 1. Simultaneously, this will also
determine the application of the CM in very few steps, possibly
only one.
54 A. Berizzi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 71 (2015) 51–59

Step 4: assuming that generator i can continuously control its

output, the Master SAS computes its curtailed output Pg_id,i [MW]
ideally able to mitigate the congestion:
 
DPred
Pg id;i ¼ Pg;i;0 1  P ð2Þ
Pg;i;0

where Pg,i,0 is the initial value of the generated power. Due to the
presence of discrete steps, in general Pg_id,i can be unfeasible; then,
for each generator, the power to be generated by generator i, Pg,i is
chosen in such a way that it is as close as possible to Pg_id,i. To cope
with the consequent mismatch, the following algorithm is set up:
Step 4.1. first, for each generator i, all the first ki levels for which
LEV i;ki P P g id;i are engaged, i.e., P g;i ¼ LEV i;ki , thus resulting in a
Fig. 4. Application of the second step of the CM curtailment stage.
total real power reduction DPg_red:
X
N red fact ¼ ðDPred  DPg red Þ=DP g red C
DP g red ¼ ðLEV i;1  LEV i;ki Þ ð3Þ ð7Þ
Pg;j ¼ LEV l;kj  ðLEV l;kj  LEV l;kj þ1 Þ  red fact
i¼1

where N is the total number of generators to be curtailed.
Fig. 3 depicts, qualitatively, an example of how this step is
applied to 3 power plants. In Fig. 3, D denotes the discrete steps,
C the continuous steps; engaged steps are in gray.
When band ðLEV i;ki  LEV i;ki þ1 Þ is continuous (e.g., G2 in Fig. 3),
the total available continuous band DPg_red_C is:
X
N
DP g red C ¼ ui ðLEV i;ki  LEV i;ki þ1 Þ
i¼1
where ui = 1 if the relevant band is continuous and 0 otherwise.
Step 4.2. at this point DPg_red < DPred and it is still necessary to
curtail, at least, DP 0red = DPred – DPg_red. This residual quantity
could be completely or partially covered by the available con-
tinuous bands. If DPg_red_C P DP0red the procedure goes to 4.3. If
DPg_red_C < DP 0red ; some further reduction must be achieved by
activating further discrete steps. For this goal, the distance
dg;i ¼ Pg id;i  LEV i;ki þ1
where generator j has continuous band available.
In (7), the total real power left to be curtailed is shared among
the continuous bands available according to their size. This choice
was considered the best possible both in the lack of information
about sensitivities and for fairness reasons among all RES produc-
ers involved. However, this makes sense: as the curtailed plants are
radially connected to the congested line, the sensitivities of the
congested line loading to their outputs are likely to be very close.
ð4Þ
If, for some reason (e.g., repeated application of CM procedure)
the initial Pg,j is within a continuous band, then the entire band will
be considered available. Hence, in spite of the overall need for
power curtailment, a power plant might also increase its produc-
tion, thus minimizing the curtailment of discrete bands of other
generators.
The application of this step is shown in Fig. 5.
Step 5: the Master SAS transmits the re-dispatch order to the
Slave SASs which apply it. If LIMdown is still not fulfilled, the proce-
ð5Þ dure will be repeated from Step 3.

is computed and the discrete LEV i;ki þ1 steps are activated, one by
one, by sorting generators in ascending order based on dg,i until the
curtailed power is such that:
DP00red ¼ DP0red  DPg red  DP g red C 60
It is worth noticing that this makes it necessary to update
DPg_red, every time a curtailment band is activated.
The application of this second step is shown in Fig. 4.
Step 4.3. Finally, if further activation of discrete bands is not
needed, the continuous bands are considered, if necessary, i.e., if
still DPred > DPg_red. In this case, the curtailment is shared
according to:
General comments on the proposed algorithm
The above-proposed CM algorithm is able to handle any conges-
ð6Þ tions as long as (i) only one line is congested in the supervised area
and as long as (ii) the network structure allows the detection of a
radial region or, in other words, the local detection of a prevalent
flow pattern, according to power flow computations or to topologic
methods [30].
As long as condition (ii) is satisfied, the violation of condition (i)
implies other situations: (a) more than one congestion in the
supervised area or (b) the radial region containing the congestion
does not include enough generators or any generator at all.
While cases of type (a) are treated in the next subsection, some

Fig. 3. Application of the first step of the CM curtailment stage. Fig. 5. Application of the third step of the CM curtailment stage.
 A. Berizzi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 71 (2015) 51–59 55

clarification is given for cases of type (b). First, they do not require
any modification of the CM procedure. Instead, it is mandatory to
continue the interrogation process (Step 2) beyond the radial
region containing the congestion in the direction of the power flow
feeding the congestion up until the total curtailable generation is
equal or greater than DPred. Then, the same algorithm can be
applied with a more penalizing acc_fact as the sensitivity of the
branch current through the congested line with respect to the gen-
erator output is expected to be much smaller. Fig. 7. Slave SAS upstream of radially connected congested lines.
The second condition (ii) is a necessary condition based on
which the algorithm was designed. Conditions (ii) does not neces-
sarily means that the system must be radial: it can also be poorly
meshed with a few loops formed over large areas, provided that it
is possible to identify prevalent flow patterns. Generally, this is
true for HVD, where loops can appear due to multi-point connec-
tions with the EHV transmission network. If condition (ii) is not
satisfied, it is no longer possible to identify the generators con-
tributing to the congestion without knowing the exact sensitivities
and, therefore, it is no longer possible to apply the proposed algo-
rithm: in this case, the complete knowledge of the system is Fig. 8. Unsuitable application of rule I for a Slave SAS located downstream several
congestions.
required and a centralized approach is mandatory. Luckily, this
happens only for EHV grids which are highly-meshed and which
are also equipped with a high performance data acquisition and
 rule II: the Slave SAS is downstream some congestions. Fig. 8
monitoring system.
shows such a situation where SASj, controling plant Gi, is both
a Slave SAS for the 1–(j  1) downstream congestions and
Multiple congestions case Master SAS for the jth congestion. If rule I would be applied, a
reduction of the real power output of Gi due to any of the first
If the above-described CM is applied for multiple congestions, it (j  1) Master SASs could have a negative impact on the
may lead to undesired interactions between the SASs actions. upstream j to NC congestions, as more power would be required
Hence, additional rules are necessary: from the upstream plants to supply downstream loads.
Therefore, plant Gi must not be considered for the CM proce-
Case 1: congestions occur in separate areas of the system, and dure: each Master SAS also sends a BLOCK command to the SASs
different sets of SAS are involved. The procedure for single con- downstream, as shown in Fig. 9. The Master SAS itself, SASj in this
gestions is be applied. Fig. 6 depicts one such situation where case, is included.
two ‘‘independent’’ congestions occur. The boxed areas are the If more than one command gets to a Slave SAS, priority is given
involved SASs sets for each congestion. to the BLOCK command and the SAS will not be a Slave SAS for any
Case 2: congestions appear such that some SASs are involved in congestion. In this case, the considered SAS can only be a Master
the CM with different roles for different congestions. To avoid SAS. If the Slave SAS does not receive any BLOCK command, then
conflicts, the following rules apply: rule I applies.
 rule I if a Slave SAS is upstream all the congestions (Fig. 7), the
power plants under its control will be rescheduled to the max- The ‘‘Generation Re-activation’’ procedure
imum among all curtailment requests, to assure the mitigation
of the most severe congestion, and also mitigation of the other Sometime after the CM application, the fluctuating character of
congestions. RES or a change in the load profile might increase the margin
between the current value of the line loading and the security limit
Given Fig. 7, the re-scheduled output of generator Gi is: – LIMdown. In these conditions, in order to maximize the energy
coming from RES, it is convenient that a part or the entire gen-
ðjÞ
Pg;i ¼ minðPg;i Þ ð8Þ eration previously curtailed by the CM is again put in operation
without causing any new congestion. This is done by the
where j = 1–NC; NC being the total number of congestions. ‘‘Generation Re-activation’’ procedure (GR).
The GR is analogous to the CM and, since the supervised line is
the same as in the CM, the Master SAS and the set of Slave SASs do

Fig. 6. Multiple ‘‘independent’’ congestions example. Fig. 9. Applying rule II.

56 A. Berizzi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 71 (2015) 51–59

not change. Actually, the GR can be thought of as the CM procedure Table 1

applied in the reverse direction, to determine a generation WFs contributing to congestion before CM.

increase. This time, the LIMmax and LIMdown limits are substituted
by the LIMmin and LIMup limits, with dual meaning: if the line load-
ing is lower than LIMmin the GR procedure is activated to bring the
line loading up to LIMup. LIMup is set such to prevent the congestion
of the supervised line. The total generation increase DPinc is:
 
acc fact  LIM up ½%
DPInc: ¼ Pcong line  1
LDline ½%
Analogously to (1), in order to speed up the loading of the line,
acceleration factor acc_fact P 1 is used and its value is limited by
LIMup, while the generation levels are now declared in ascending
order, from the actual level up to the maximum capability.
The RG procedure operates until all the curtailed generators are
re-scheduled to the maximum power output.
Simulations and results
Single line congestion
The test network considered is a part of the Italian system. It
includes the studied 150 kV HVD system and, for the accuracy of
the results, a significant area of the external 220/400 kV transmis-
sion system. The overall network model consists of 1376 buses,
1470 branches and 100 synchronous generators. The studied
150 kV sub transmission system represents an area with a sig-
nificant RES penetration and where congestions are often reported.
Fig. 10 depicts the portion of the sub transmission system consid-
ered, containing 20 wind farms (WF) connected to the 150 kV level,
lines subject to congestions and the 3 connection points to the 220/
400 kV transmission System. The WFs are injecting power for a
total installed capacity equal to 556 MW.
The results are relevant to a summer situation with average
load profile; the WFs produce at 75% of their installed capacity:
line SAS1–SAS2 is congested, while line SAS7–SAS8 is close to con-
gestion, as highlighted with thick lines in figure. The CM algorithm
was implemented in the object-oriented programming language of
DIgSILENT [31] and steady-state simulations were run to test the
procedure.
Tests were run for LIMmax = 100% and LIMdown = 98% of the ther-
mal line loading. Applying the first two steps of the procedure
leads to the activation of SAS1 as Master SAS and SAS2 and SAS3
as Slave SASs. The interrogation procedure stops at SAS3 as an
inversion of the power flow is detected. Table 1 shows the WFs
connected to SAS2 and SAS3, as well as their control capabilities:
WF1 to WF9 are controlled by SAS2 while WF10 is controlled by
ð9Þ
SAS3. The actual output is highlighted with bold text, LEV1; Gray
cells show steps where continuous regulation can be provided.
For example, WF3 can continuously control real power between
levels 5.44 MW and 9.52 MW. The column in italics depicts the ide-
al curtailed power for each generator, Pg_id,i.
Appling Eqs. (1) and (2) for acc_fact = 0.96 results in
DPred = 21.4 MW and from that the ideal outputs Pg_id,i are comput-
ed and shown. For all the WFs, LEVi,2 < Pg_id,i, so that step 4.1 has no
effect and DPg_red = DPg_red_C = 0 MW.
Now, the CM has to activate discrete steps according to (6). For
this reason, the ranking of generators with respect to dg,i, is shown
in Table 2.
When the first 5 WFs in the ranking from Table 2 are curtailed
to LEVi,2, then DPg_red = 22.42 MW (see Table 3) and the stopping
condition of Step 4.2 of the CM is fulfilled (DPg_red > DPred).
Accordingly, SAS1 sends the dispatching orders to the Slave SASs.
Table 4 depicts in the first column the generation profile after
dispatching according to the first run of the CM. After the applica-
tion of the new generation profile, LDline decreases to 100.2%, and
this makes it necessary to apply the CM procedure again, starting
from Step 3. In this case, DPred = 8.9 MW and again Step 4.1 is not
applied: DPg_red = 0 MW, but DPg_red_C = 18.36 MW, since in the
previous run of the CM, generators WF3–WF6 were curtailed up
to the upper bound of their continuous bands.
At this point, DPg_red_C > DPred: the continuous regulation band
can satisfy DPred. The CM procedure goes directly to Step 4.3. Eq.
(7) is applied obtaining red_fact = 0.207 and the generation profile
of Table 4, last column; it is worth noticing that for WF3–WF6 the
continuous regulation band is exploited, as shown in gray in Table 4.
Once the profile is dispatched, for a total generation curtailment
of 31.32 MW, LDline = 97.91%, which is below LIMdown: the conges-
tion is considered mitigated. At the same time, the loading of line
SAS7–SAS8 is reduced to 84% and no adverse effects on the net-
work occurred.
The computations for this network were carried on a PC
equipped with an Intel i5 2.4 GHz processor and 8 Gb of RAM
memory, necessary to carry out both the network simulation and

Table 2
Generators ranking according to dg,i.

Order (–) Gen (–) Pg_id,i (MW) LEVi,2 (MW) dg,i (MW)
1 WF1 12.29 9.46 2.83
2 WF3 12.37 9.52 2.85
3 WF4 12.37 9.52 2.85
4 WF5 15.46 11.90 3.56
5 WF6 15.46 11.90 3.56
6 WF8 15.46 11.90 3.56
7 WF9 17.39 13.39 4.00
8 WF10 24.73 19.04 5.69
9 WF7 37.88 29.16 8.72
10 WF2 51.32 39.51 11.82
Fig. 10. The 150 kV sub transmission test system in the base scenario.
 A. Berizzi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 71 (2015) 51–59
Table 3
Discrete steps activation procedure.
Generators curtailed (–) DPg_red DPg_red > DPred
(MW) (MW)
WF1 4.05 False
WF1 + WF3 8.13 False
WF1 + WF3 + WF4 12.22 False
WF1 + WF3 + WF4 + WF5 17.32 False
WF1 + WF3 + WF4 + WF5 + WF6 22.42 True
Table 4
Generation profile after the 1st and 2nd RUN of CM.
the proposed algorithm. In real life installation, however, the net-
work simulation is not necessary and even a generic embedded
computer can be adopted. In order to assess the overall time nec-
essary for the complete CM procedure, and its feasibility on hard-
ware installed in older substations, we carried out several tests on
different computers, with different technologies dated from 2000
to 2012. The computation time ranges from 0.5 ms, in the case of
the state-of-the-art technology, up to 30 ms; these times are to
be added to the time necessary for communications, which is some
hundreds of ms [29], which in any cases offsets the pure computa-
tion time. Therefore, the CM procedure is suitable to run on
hardware installed on field, being completely compatible with
real-time congestion management without compromising the
already in place control and protection functions, i.e. without
saturating the computational capability. Moreover, no scalability
problems can be seen, as long as conditions in Section ‘General
comments on the proposed algorithm’ are fulfilled, as the single
congestion can be solved in suitable computation times because
its solution depends only on a reduced, local ‘‘influence area’’.
In order to assess the robustness of the procedure with respect
to the parameter acc_fact, the results of a sensitivity analysis is
shown in Table 5, where the number of iterations and the final
loading is shown for different values of acc_fact. In all cases, the
final profile is similar to the one depicted in Table 4. If acc_fact = 1,
when the continuous bands are reached LDline is very close to
LIMdown. Hence, the term multiplying Pcong_line in Eq. (1) tends to
0; DPred also tends to 0 and the process is slowed down. This results
in an unacceptably large number of iterations.
On the contrary, when acc_fact = 0.96, the CM procedure con-
verges only in 2 iterations to a value very close to LIMdown (98%
in this case) and when acc_fact = 0.92, the CM converges only in
1 iteration to a value close to LIMdown. The optimal value of acc_fact
can be thus determined empirically for each electric line subject to
congestion as it depends on the particular structure of the consid-
ered grid.
Multiple congestions
In normal operating conditions, the considered grid does not
present multiple congestions, even for very high wind scenarios.
To test rules relevant to multiple congestions, line SAS2–SAS3
57
Table 5
CM results for various values of acc_fact.
Stop
(–)
No
No
No
No
Yes was assumed out of service. Congestions simultaneously appear
as shown in Fig. 11: Congestion 1 of line SAS6–SAS7, Congestion 2
of line SAS7–SAS8 and Congestion 3 of line SAS12–SAS13. Fig. 11
also shows the identified sets of Master/Slave SASs for each con-
gestion: SAS7 is Master SAS for Congestion 2 and Slave SAS for
Congestion 1 and SAS8 is Master SAS for Congestion 1; SAS3 to
SAS6 form a common set of Slave SASs for Congestion 1 + 2.
SAS13 is Master SAS for Congestion 3, while SAS11 and SAS12 are
the relevant Slave SASs.
Hence, Congestion (1 + 2) pertain to Case 2 and they will be
mitigated by applying rule I and rule II, while Congestion 3 is inde-
pendent of the first two (Case 1) and will be solved separately,
according to the rules for single congestion.
Regarding Congestion (1 + 2), rule II will lead to the blocking of
SAS7 and SAS8 as Slave SAS: therefore, SAS7 acts only as Master
SAS for Congestion 2. At this point, both Master SASs will have a
common set of Slave SAS, i.e. SAS3–SAS6, and hence a common
set of generators to curtail; hence rule I is applied. The effect of rule
II is to reduce the set of power plants to be curtailed to a common
set for all the congestions belonging to the same radial region of
the grid. All these congestions are simultaneously solved by apply-
ing rule I, i.e., by mitigating the most severe congestion.
Table 6 reports the common set of power plants for Congestion
(1 + 2) together with their actual outputs (LEV1) and down bands:
WF10 is connected to SAS3, WF11 and WF12 to SAS4 while the rest
of WFs to SAS5. Table 6 also shows the results of Step 4 of the
CM procedure applied for LIMmax = 100%, LIMdown = 98% and
acc_fact = 0.96. Two set of results are shown, relevant to the proce-
dure carried out independently by the two Master SASs: according
to rule I, the final generation profiles are determined as the mini-
mum envelope of the two computed levels of generation, i.e., to
the profile pertaining to Congestion 1. Table 6 shows also, in gray,
the continuous bands available and activated.
Regarding Congestion 3, only one WF is involved, WF19, and the
results of Step 4 of the CM procedure are shown in Table 7, where
the final scheduling of WF19 is emphasized in the dark grey cell
with bold text.
The rescheduling is applied by the Slave SASs and the resulting
power flows in the network are shown in Fig. 12. All three
Fig. 11. Multiple congestion case: initial scenario.
58 A. Berizzi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 71 (2015) 51–59

Table 6 Table 8
Levels of WFs and final generation profiles for congestions (1 + 2). CM results for various values of acc_fact: Congestion 1 + 2 and Congestion 3.

Table 9
CM results for various values of acc_fact: Congestion 3 only – continuous case.

Table 7
Congestions 3 generation curtailment profile.
the congestion considered. However, the analysis of results shows
that the optimal values of acc_fact lies always in the range 0.90–
0.96, and this gives a first estimate. Moreover, it is worth noticing
that an optimal value might be computed off-line by assuming
complete knowledge of the system and this gives further directions
for the guess of acc_fact to be used in the CM procedure. For exam-
ple, in case of Congestion 3 (overload equal to 108.42%), which is
structurally simple (only one power plant feeds the congestion),
off-line studies showed that for line SAS11–SAS12 and generator
WF19 the sensitivity of % line loading with respect to the MW gen-
eration of WF19 is equal to 0.587%/MW. Based on that, a theoretical
reduction of 17.76 MW is required to WF19 and this corresponds to
acc_factteo = 0.925. Table 9, assuming that WF19 can act continuous-
ly, confirms this. It can be seen that as long as acc_fact > acc_factteo
the CM procedure needs more than one iteration to converge.
A possible strategy is to select off-line the most common
topologies for the systems and compute for the most frequent con-
gestions acc_factteo by sensitivities. These values can be very good
guesses for the acc_fact to be used in the real-time CM application
proposed; in particular the advice is to use acc_factteo as upper limit
for a guessed acc_fact to be used in different operating conditions.

Generation Re-activation
Fig. 12. Multiple congestion case: power flows after CM.
The low loading of the previously congested line SAS12–
SAS13 now allows the application of the GR procedure (provided
congestions have been solved in one CM iteration, without any
there is enough wind). The set of SASs involved in the RG pro-
adverse effects: this is possible since the generation was reduced
cedure is the same as the one for the CM. Hence, applying the
at the same time in many branches of the studied network.
RG procedure will lead to the generation increase of WF19.
Fig. 12 shows that the line with the highest loading level after
Setting LIMmin = 90%, LIMup = 92% and acc_fact = 1.04, after one
CM is SAS7–SAS8, i.e., the line that formerly experienced the most
run of the RG procedure, WF19 is rescheduled to the maximum,
severe congestion (compare to Fig. 11). It also shows that the
i.e. to Pg,19 = LEV19,1 = 24.65 MW, the real power in line SAS12–
designed set of rules for the multiple CM is able to keep the overall
SAS13 increases to 75 MW while the loading level reaches
generation as high as possible, while guaranteeing a secure operat-
73.5%. At the same time, the loading of lines SAS6–SAS7 and
ing point. It is worth noticing that Congestion 3 is drastically
SAS7–SAS8 are unchanged.
mitigated, the final loading level being 64.7%. According to both
As one can notice, there is still a margin to increase RES gen-
Figs. 11 and 12, power flows in line SAS12–SAS13 depends not only
eration at WF19, as the loading of line SAS12–SAS13 did not
by the output of the plants connected to SAS11, but also by the
reached LIMmin. However, the previous Congestion 3 was caused
plants contributing to Congestion (1 + 2); therefore, in this case,
by generation at SAS11 but also by the generation involved in
the mitigation of Congestion (1 + 2) has a positive impact also on
Congestion 1 and 2. Therefore, even though generation at SAS11
Congestion 3.
is pushed at its maximum the line SAS11–SAS12 loading does
Like in case of single congestion, a sensitivity analysis was per-
not reach LIMup; the GR procedure is not designed to increase gen-
formed for acc_fact for multiple congestions. Table 8 shows the
eration at SASs that do not belong to the identified area for
results of the combined effects of the CM on Congestion 1 + 2 and
Congestion 3. If they were, the generation increase would be con-
Congestion 3. It is worth noticing that the value of acc_fact for
gested again as line SAS7–SAS8 are already loaded to 96%.
which the algorithm converges in one iteration is higher than for
the case of Table 5, relevant to a different congestion in a different
part of the system. Conclusions
Summarizing, in order to identify a criterion for the determina-
tion of acc_fact, several cases were considered and acc_fact resulted In this paper, a procedure to mitigate congestions due to the
to be case-dependent: it depends on both the system topology and high penetration of RES at HVD level is proposed. It is designed
 A. Berizzi et al. / Electrical Power and Energy Systems 71 (2015) 51–59
to operate on-line, in an automatic and decentralized manner and
it is based on simple rules and computations, thus avoiding the
need of complex communication systems and of detailed knowl-
edge of the grid operating point. The methodology applies to radial
and poorly meshed grids and adapts itself to any operating point.
Moreover, it can cope with single and multiple congestions.
Additionally, the paper proposes a procedure to load the previously
congested lines after the congestion mitigation to recover RES gen-
eration previously curtailed.
The tests performed on a real model of a section of the Italian
150 kV sub transmission grid show the robustness and efficiency
of the procedure.
The major directions of developing the CM functionality in the
future regard: (i) impact of the storage solutions to manage con-
gestions and (ii) investigation on remuneration criteria for the cur-
tailed power. Currently, the CM algorithm is under integration
inside SAS apparatus in laboratory.
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