The spread of distributed renewable resources and power electronics in distribution networks is inducing an evolution in the electricity system. To support the imminent decentralisation of the electricity system, new coordination and control algorithms must be developed that make it possible to compensate for the intermittent and non-deterministic nature of renewable sources and some new electrical loads.

In this context, the activity carried out concerned the design and validation through numerical simulations of a control structure for the coordination and management of the cells in which a hybrid AC/DC distribution network is divided. The designed control structure is distributed and consists of a Model Predictive Control (MPC) at cell level which allows power imbalances caused by loads and renewable sources to be compensated for efficiently and quickly. Each cell MPC also communicates with a distributed supervisor that coordinates power flows in the DC network by supporting cells through adjacent cells. The numerical results show the effectiveness of the approach, which guarantees rapid action and excellent scalability properties. Furthermore, the described control structure is perfectly adaptable to different types of generators and batteries and can be easily applied to different cases and different model assumptions.

Finally, during the activity a method was developed that allows the network to be divided into cells taking into account the sources of flexibility available in the network. This tool, as the numerical results show, allows the network to be partitioned considering both the planning phase and the operation phase, in such a way that any changes in the structure of the electricity network can be taken into account.