Centralised vs Decentralised Fallacy

An assertion that the Systems Architecture of a Power System hosting high levels of Distributed Energy Resources (DER) must either be entirely centralised or entirely decentralised.

In practice, however, both approaches have strengths and weaknesses that must be carefully balanced to provision each Power Systems to meet the Customer and Societal Objectives in a particular jurisdiction.  For example, a wholly centralised Architecture may experience increasing Scalability and Resilience challenges whereas a wholly decentralised scheme may experience increasing Co-optimisation challenges.

Where a significant transformation of a Power Systems is underway, holistic consideration of the seven inter-dependent structures reflected by the Network of Structures model becomes critical.  Rather than a ‘big bang’ architectural shift, this will then enable a progressive transition in which elements of both schemes may co-exist as a legacy Architecture is progressively transitioned over time toward the desired future Architecture.

Refer also to Centralised Future Architecture and Layered Future Architecture.

Given the fast-evolving nature of power system transformation, the Future Grid Accelerator (FGA) has the status of a perpetual BETA version. Your suggestions for how each concept and definition may be enhanced are very welcome.

All feedback will be reviewed and considered for inclusion in subsequent updates.

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