Abstract
The increasing penetration of renewable energy sources (RES) in power systems intensifies the need of enhancing the flexibility in grid operations in order to accommodate the uncertain power output of the leading RES such as wind and solar generation. Utilities have been recently showing increasing interest in developing Demand Response (DR) programs in order to match generation and demand in a more efficient way. Incentive and price-based DR programs aim at enabling the demand side in order to achieve a range of operational and economic advantages, towards developing a more sustainable power system structure. The contribution of the presented study is twofold. First, a complete and up-to-date overview of DR enabling technologies, programs and consumer response types is presented. Furthermore, the benefits and the drivers that have motivated the adoption of DR programs, as well as the barriers that may hinder their further development, are thoroughly discussed. Second, the international DR status quo is identified by extensively reviewing existing programs in different regions.

Abstract
Introduction of renewable energy sources (RES) in insular areas is growing on different islands of various regions in the world and the large-scale deployment of renewables in island power systems is appealing to local attention of grid operators as a method to decrease fossil fuel consumption. Planning a grid based on renewable power plants (RPP) presents serious challenges to the normal operation of a power system, precisely on voltage and frequency stability. Despite of its inherent problems, there is a consensus that in near future the RES could supply most of local needs without depending exclusively on fossil fuels. In previous grid code compliance, wind turbines did not required services to support grid operation. Thus, in order to shift to large-scale integration of renewables, the insular grid code ought to incorporate a new set of requirements with the intention of regulating the inclusion of these services. Hence, this paper discusses grid code requirements for large-scale integration of renewables in an island context, as a new contribution to earlier studies. The current trends on grid code formulation, towards an improved integration of distributed renewable resources in island power systems, are addressed. The paper also discusses advanced grid code requirement concepts such as virtual wind inertia and synthetic inertia for improving regulation capability of wind farms and the application of energy storage systems (EES) for enhancing renewable generation integration. Finally, a comparative analysis of insular grid code compliance to these requirements is presented in the European context.

Abstract
Nowadays, there is a wide consensus about integrating more renewable energy sources-RESs to solve a multitude of global concerns such as meeting an increasing demand for electricity, reducing energy security and heavy dependence on fossil fuels for energy production, and reducing the overall carbon footprint of power production. Framed in this context, the coordination of RES integration with energy storage systems (ESSs), along with the network's switching capability and/or reinforcement, is expected to significantly improve system flexibility, thereby increasing the capability of the system in accommodating large-scale RES power. Hence, this paper presents a novel mechanism to quantify the impacts of network switching and/or reinforcement as well as deployment of ESSs on the level of renewable power integrated in the system. To carry out this analysis, a dynamic and multi-objective stochastic mixed integer linear programming (S-MILP) model is developed, which jointly takes the optimal deployment of RES-based DGs and ESSs into account in coordination with distribution network reinforcement and/or reconfiguration. The IEEE 119-bus test system is used as a case study. Numerical results clearly show the capability of ESS deployment in dramatically increasing the level of renewable DGs integrated in the system. Although case-dependent, the impact of network reconfiguration on RES power integration is not significant.

Abstract
A multi-loop control strategy based on a six-order dynamic model of the modular multilevel converter (MMC) is presented in this paper for the high-voltage direct current (HVDC) applications. For the initial analysis of the operation of MMC, a capability curve based on active and reactive power of the MMC is achieved through a part of the six order dynamic equations. According to the MMC's control aims, the first loop known as the outer loop is designed based on passivity control theory to force the MMC state variables to follow their reference values. As the second loop with the use of sliding mode control, the central loop should provide appropriate performance for the MMC under variations of the MMC's parameters. Another main part of the proposed controller is defined for the third inner loop to accomplish the accurate generation of reference values. Also, for a deeper analysis of the MMC's dc link voltage stability, two phase diagrams of the dc-link voltage are assessed. Matlab/Simulink environment is used to thoroughly validate the ability of the proposed control technique for control of the MMC in HVDC application under both load and MMC's parameters changes.

Abstract
Demand response (DR) implementations have recently found wide application areas in the context of smart grids. The effectiveness of these implementations is primarily based on the willingness of end-users to be involved in such programs. In this paper, an interactive and user-friendly interface is presented in order to facilitate and accordingly to increase the participation of end-users in DR programs. The proposed interface has the capability of providing the targeted information about the DR events to end-users and system operators, as well as allowing end-users to interactively monitor and control the progress of their appliances. In addition to its benefits to system operators and thus to the improved operation of power systems, the proposed interface particularly aims to exploit the potential energy-related cost savings by providing the required information and resources to end-users via mobile phone. A separate interface apart from the mentioned end-user oriented interface has also been developed for the system operator to more effectively check the status of DR applications in detail. The capabilities of the proposed concept are evaluated in a real smart home in terms of various aspects.

Abstract
This paper presents the analysis of a distribution system subject to reconfiguration with high wind penetration over a period of 24 hours. In order to meet this objective, the reconfiguration problem is solved through mixed integer linear programming considering the stochasticity of the variables, where the balance between load and generation has to be satisfied at the lowest cost in each period. The model considers a wind profile that follows an Auto-Regressive (AR) pattern to take into account uncertainty in wind generation, bus loads for a typical demand profile, and non-renewable distributed generation, all implemented for a 33-bus case study representing a weakly meshed distribution network. Test results from the case study show the effects on voltages, currents and substation behaviors as well as the power loss and the overall cost of the system.