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DERMS (Distributed Energy Resource Management System)

DERMS tools help aggregators and utilities manage portfolios of solar, storage, EV chargers, and demand response.

Key Concepts

DER Envelope Aggregation

  • Aggregates individual DER capabilities (power, energy, ramp rate)
  • Produces a dispatch envelope: at each time step, what power ranges are achievable?
  • Accounts for:
    • Battery state-of-charge constraints
    • Ramp limits
    • Reserve margins
    • Device availability

Pricing-Based Scheduling

  • Given dynamic electricity prices (or locational prices)
  • Optimizes individual and portfolio charging/discharging
  • Maximizes arbitrage profit while respecting envelope limits

Stress Testing

  • Simulates response to scenarios (peak demand, low wind, sudden outages)
  • Verifies that aggregated DERs meet reliability targets (e.g., minimum reserve, ramp capability)

Usage Examples

Aggregate a DER portfolio

gat derms aggregate \
  --devices device_catalog.csv \
  --ders_metadata der_list.yaml \
  --start 2024-01-01 \
  --end 2024-01-31 \
  --out ders_envelope.parquet

Output (time-indexed):

  • Available power (MW)
  • Available energy (MWh)
  • Maximum charge rate (MW)
  • Maximum discharge rate (MW)
  • Reserve requirement (MW)

Schedule DERs for price response

gat derms schedule \
  --envelope ders_envelope.parquet \
  --prices spot_prices.csv \
  --strategy max_arbitrage \
  --soc_bounds "[0.1,0.9]" \
  --out dispatch_schedule.parquet

Output:

  • Dispatch setpoint (MW) per device per interval
  • Predicted profit
  • Battery state-of-charge trajectory
  • Constraint violations (if any)

Run stress tests

gat derms stress \
  --envelope ders_envelope.parquet \
  --scenarios stress_test_matrix.yaml \
  --out stress_results.parquet

Integration with Distribution Analysis

DER aggregates can be incorporated into DIST hosting-capacity and ADMS voltage-support workflows:

gat dist hosting \
  --grid dist_network.arrow \
  --ders ders_envelope.parquet \
  --out hosting_curves.parquet

See docs/guide/dist.md for full workflow.

References

  • crate: crates/gat-derms/README.md
  • CLI: gat derms --help
  • Schema: docs/schemas/derms_output.json