Domain Infrastructure Tier
Domain Infrastructure Concepts
The domain infrastructure layer expresses the shared infrastructure needed for the support large fleets of Distributed Energy Resources (DER). By utility scale, we are describing to the collective operation of DERs at the 100+ MW scale that have important impacts for their owners (e.g. consumers) and also on the surrounding Grid infrastructure.
The domain infrastructure layer should support the operation of many types of distributed assets; controllable residential solar inverters , battery storage systems, controlled electric hot water loads, electric vehicle chargers, community or commercial scale batteries, and so on.
To describe the domain layer, it is easiest to describe what it is, and what is isn't;
The domain layer does include;
-
Services that are specific to the electricity domain, describing behaviour of the broader power system.
-
Regulated services that are essential to support two or more Application or Domain Tier services or extensions
-
Essential data sets that are needed for auditing, traceability, regulation and compliance of activities across systems
-
Essential functions that are needed for security, relaibility and resilience of the broader power system
-
Published APIs that can be used by Application Tier services under strict access control policies
-
Ability to add future domain layer services as and when required
The domain layer does not;
-
refer to generic infrastructure such as databases or message platforms, which belong in the Mesh Infrastructure Tier
-
form a placeholder for any/all regulated services for grid operators - most of these operate at the Application Tier
-
include definitions of interoperability or communcations standards.
-
attempt to define a common information model for all services and APIs
-
allow access of services to the Mesh Infrastructure layer directly, except via APIs
Minimum domain Infrastructure components
To implement the OE Reference Architecture and Security Model, there are several critical domain layer services provide a set of foundation capabilities that are essential for the continued safe and reliable operation of the power system. The key services are;
-
Cyber security concerned with the continued operation of the power system are services that are focused on the monitoring of key risks that may result from infrastructure outages or malicious cyber attacks that could compromise significant load and generation volumes in the power system.
-
Data exchange is a B2B communications platform for the sharing of operational information between the various parties involved in DER coordination and orchestration.
-
Data registries are shared data repositories that are used by a number of system wide services. These include DER standing data (DER register) captured at install time, and Participant data which captures which DER are registered within active control services.
-
Control services stand as a record for services that are offered by operators that have a direct or indirect control signal back to DER systems. This may include Emergency Backstops, Flexible exports, VPPs or HEMS products, as well as market based services such as FCAS, RERT and wholesale market participation.
Domain Infrastructure extensions: Australia
To implement the OE Reference Architecture and Security Model, there are several critical domain layer services provide a set of foundation capabilities that are essential for the continued safe and reliable operation of the power system. The key services are;
-
Grid security refers to the safe operation of the power system, including system operation, distribution and transmission, that have dependencies on the smooth operation of large DER fleets. Examples of this include export limits to manage voltage constraints on LV/MV distribution networks, and emergency backstop curtailment with reduced margins of spinning reserves and system strength in the bulk supply power system.
-
Data exchange is a B2B communications platform for the sharing of operational information between the various parties involved in DER coordination and orchestration.