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Designing the green power grid of tomorrow
In Denmark, we have great expertise in integrating renewable energy into our power grid. We will need this expertise in the near future when the power grid will store significantly larger amounts of energy from green energy sources than it does today. At the same time, India is facing a conversion to solar cells and is also working to expand its power grid, which makes it a unique test zone for new, smart solutions. That is why a new Danish-Indian project aims to design the power grid of tomorrow.
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Tomorrow’s power grid should be intelligent
The problem of basing a power system on renewable energy sources such as wind and solar is that these sources depend on the wind to blow and the sun to shine, in order to produce electricity. An unstable supply of electricity to the power grid may, at worst, plunge streets and larger areas into darkness. Therefore, the power grid must be intelligent in order to anticipate any imbalances, explains Spyros Chatzivasileiadis, Project Manager at DTU Electrical Engineering.
“This will be achieved by enabling the power grid to sense and automatically prevent a power failure whenever it becomes unstable. The aim is to train intelligent devices to quickly anticipate changes in the grid and reduce the loss of electricity on the way to the consumer,” he said.
Using solar cell converters to avoid power failures
Such devices could be solar cell converters, which are normally used to convert the direct current produced by solar cells to alternating current, which can be used in homes, supermarkets, etc.
“Data from intelligent, local sensors will enable us to deduce the condition of the grid pretty much in real time. And we will be able to use the sensor data to train e.g. solar cell converters to recognise grid disturbances and initiate emergency procedures to avoid power failures,” said Chatzivasileiadis.
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Using machine learning methods, solar cell converters and other devices could function both as telltale and repairer if the grid is getting unstable, which has not been possible until now.
“Machine learning methods will change the way the energy system is operated in the future. Groundbreaking new solutions that utilise digitisation could lead to the 100 per cent green power grid of tomorrow,” said Professor Jacob Østergaard, Head of Centre and energy system specialist at DTU Electrical Engineering.
Source: DTU
