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The high penetration of Distributed Energy Resources (DERs) and the IoT devices in the grid, as a result of policy regulations and economic considerations, physically located everywhere, in all shapes and sizes, both in front (FTM) and behind the meter (BTM) are fundamentally transforming the grid into a decentralized network of new grid assets that participate in multiple hierarchical energy markets. This transformation, however, creates challenges that needs to be managed. In order to adequately capture the transient behavior of the various grid components, detailed component models and Real-Time (RT) simulations are required. Leveraging their inherent parallelism capabilities, FPGA platforms help to achieve high-speed simulation execution, becoming a useful validation and planning tool for power grid management. However, the hardware utilization in these solutions is directly proportional to the size of the network under test, leading to expensive and hardly scalable architectures unsuitable for the simulation of large scale power networks. In this paper, a novel technique is presented, which aims to reduce the FPGA's resources utilization in distribution power grids. There are cases where part of the network under test can be partitioned in a number of identical subnetworks, whose output can be calculated by the same hardware module and thus lead to hardware utilization reduction. As proof of concept of the proposed approach, the implementations of a microgrid with and without applying the partitioning technique are demonstrated and compared in terms of accuracy, simulation speed and FPGA resources utilization.

In this paper, we address the recently established regulatory framework for the management of the Greek Non-Interconnected Islands (NII) power systems. We present the recent initiatives for the development of Energy Control Centers, including Energy and Market Management Systems, and we provide an overview of the proposed systems architecture. In addition, we list a formulation of the basic market process for the implementation of a NII electricity market, i.e., the Rolling Day-Ahead Scheduling, which captures key features of the regulatory framework. To illustrate the model, we use as a test case a particular NII.

The Greek wholesale electricity market is based on a day-ahead unit commitment market clearing and generation dispatch formulation with co-optimization of energy and reserves without the participation of transmission. An important feature of the market design is the cost recovery mechanism, which explicitly compensates generation units for their commitment costs and guarantees a minimum profit equal to 10% of their variable costs. In this paper, we evaluate the current mechanism in comparison to an alternative bid/cost recovery mechanism by simulating the wholesale electricity market for a period of one year. As part of the study we take into account the forthcoming changes for the liberalization of the Greek market that include the physical and virtual sale of a portion of PPC lignite plants, and we examine a likely "business as usual" scenario concerning the resulting bidding strategies. Lastly, we perform a sensitivity analysis with respect to the hydro production and the carbon price. (6 pages)