SUSTAINABLE MICRO GRID : DECENTRALIZE DIGITALIZE DECARBONIZE

 [AM1]

The world is changing , climate is changing and so how we generate and consume energy is changing dramatically. We have entered the era of the ENERGY TRANSITION. There are 3 dimensions, the “3 D’s,” that will be the pillar for the growth of the clean energy economy in the world: DECENTRALIZE DIGITALIZE DECARBONIZE. A sustainable approach to energy that goes beyond the use of renewable sources is need of the hour. Microgrids serve as a decentralized energy system, where you are independent of the public network and, at the same time, can generate additional revenue by feeding any excess energy back to it. By balancing load demands through intelligent management, and with integrated back-up systems you have peace of mind with failsafe operation and you are in control.  The internet of things is becoming reality for energy companies, too. The combination of these two factors makes up an explosive and transformative mixture for the energy world which is based on concept of the Grid Edge where the traditional grid not only needs to integrate new, smart customers but also has to closely collaborate with them. Here comes the role of Digitalization. With Decentralization and Digitalization we can effectively Decarbonize our Energy Sector. Sustainable microgrids are finally becoming truly affordable, and in the process are beginning to change the way we think about energy consumption and resilience.

DECARBONIZATION

In order to limit rising global temperatures and meet the Paris climate agreement, every organization in the world needs to find efficient and scientific techniques to both reduce their operating costs, but also lower Greenhouse Gas Emissions. Consumer behaviour is evolving to the point where we prefer to use products or services of the companies with a positive environmental contribution, incentivizing companies to enact stricter internal sustainability plans. A similar concept applies to the workforce, as they seek employment from organizations that have a high environmental and societal impact, not just monetary consideration.

Along with Thermal power generation the generating companies have to venture in to renewables to pave the way to Decarbonization.. By 2022 the energy scenario in India has changed to  60% Thermal and 40% Renewables. Thus to actualize the vision of Net Zero by 2030 the energy sector has to gear up and lots of transformation and transition is taking place in this dynamic power sector. The concept of Sustainable microgrid is the future of  energy system across the globe. As Microgrids translate to energy savings, resiliency, and sustainability.

Source: Power Sector at a Glance ALL INDIA | Government of India | Ministry of Power (powermin.gov.in)

Here comes the role of Decentralization.

DECENTRALIZATION

To achieve the goal of Decarbonization the Energy Transition to Decentralization is imperative. Extreme weather events threaten the stability of the grid and cause power outages with significant economic losses. Compounding these losses, communities with low-income and elderly populations are disproportionately affected by extreme weather events. Microgrids, which can combine both solar- and wind-power capabilities, can generate power and energy during optimal production times that can be stored on site in batteries and used later. When equipped with the right distribution equipment, they can go into “island mode” by disconnecting from the larger power grid, enabling localized control of energy use and long-term energy-use strategy. They can also potentially sell electricity into the larger grid market when allowed. 

The gamechangers or catalysts affecting the transition are:

1.Electric Vehicles charging stations. The Boston Consulting Group estimates that in Europe alone, the number of public chargers will have to rise from 200,000 today to over 1.8 million by 2030, resulting in an additional energy demand of 86 TWh .

2.The Internet Of Things :The second catalyst is the ongoing proliferation of digital solutions in our everyday life. The internet of things is becoming reality for businesses .

3.The Energy Transformation: Capitalizing on New Investment Opportunities:

4.Winning the Battle in the EV Charging Ecosystem like “Factory of the future”; for energy companies through the “Internet of energy”;

5   For commercial customers through intelligent buildings;

6. For private consumers through smart homes.

 The combination of these   factors makes up an explosive and transformative mixture for the energy world: The traditional grid not only needs to integrate new, smart customers but also has to closely collaborate with them. This area is called the GRID EDGE. It is characterized by a constant state of “hybrid”, where traditional “dumb” assets must work together with modern “smart” devices

Where fossil generation goes hand in hand with intermittent RES, and where Consumers turn into Prosumers

The grid edge is not a physical place. It is a thought model to better grasp the new energy landscape. It initiates a change of perspective from “just delivering electricity” through the grid to the consumers to “constantly interacting with prosumers” to manage the grid. This perspective results in the grid edge being a multifaceted array of use cases which revolve around the optimal combination of intelligent hardware, software and service solutions.

 If new technological and market mechanisms are intelligently deployed , the microgrids can leverage the grid edge to achieve a new dimension of efficiency, reliability, resilience and sustainability in the modern energy ecosystem.

The decentralized system stakeholders can exploit the opportunities at the grid edge by integrating new assets for better grid management, collaborating with new players or developing additional business models and revenue streams.

For successful operation and interaction of various players in Grid Edge, the concept of DIGITALIZATION is a must.

DIGITALIZATION

Smart grid evolution with proactive distributed energy integration is a must for decarbonization and decentralizing efforts which paves way to Digitalization.

The Internet of Things, Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain technology are key enablers in the power sector transformation, helping to manage large amounts of data collection and analysis, optimizing increasingly complex energy systems. Some additional benefits to the ecosystem include:

• Remote monitoring, operation, and maintenance of assets
• Improved renewable energy generation forecast
• Maintain grid stability and reliability
• The emergence of new business models

Microgrid Components

Source : Internet

SOURCE OF ENERGY:Like a traditional grid, energy generation is the heart of a microgrid system. The energy source can be sustainable – photovoltaic, wind, hydro, or biomass .The most common sources at the moment, to power generated by renewable resources such as solar panels, wind farms, fuel cells, or other sources of renewable energy.

ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM– The supply energy should be backed up through biodiesel generators, emergency power units, and storage systems. The storage system can be Battery storage to the latest Hydrogen Storage

The point of common coupling (PCC) is where a microgrid connects to the main grid. In connected mode, the two systems operate in parallel, with the PCC maintaining equal voltage levels in both. The PCC can also allow the microgrid to import and export electricity from the parent grid in response to appropriate price signals, utilizing energy storage mechanisms such as batteries.

AI SWITCH : If there is a problem with the main grid, a switch can disconnect the grids either manually or automatically. In island mode, the microgrid can still provide enough power to serve critical customer loads, even if the main grid is offline. The machine learning capability of AI software helps to continuously optimize the process.

IoT products :  IOT products can make the grid smarter, safer, more secure, and more reliable, all while lowering costs for customers.. Smart meters and sensors embedded in power lines can help prevent power outages, while other monitoring and predictive maintenance solutions for transformers and pumps reduce risk and cost.

DSM : Demand Side Management : In a deregulated power system, Demand Side Management (DSM) plays a vital role in handling the uncertain renewable power generation and load. The flat load-profile can be obtained using the Demand Response (DR) techniques with the storage elements and proper switching. The increasing penetration of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) and Electric Vehicles (EVs) supports the DR measures which facilitate both the utility and the consumer. The objective of DSM is to minimize the peak demand, electricity cost and emission rate by the effective utilization of storage with RES.

ADVANTAGES  AND KEY FEATURES OF MICROGRID

• Respond to wide range of Drivers: Depending on their size and location, microgrid projects respond to a wide range of drivers, whether it's a utility's need for grid optimization and ancillary services or a military installation that requires uninterrupted electricity. They offer developing countries and isolated communities an alternative to expensive, polluting fuels.

• Creation of business models of Decentralized Renewable Energy livelihood applications in agriculture, agro-processing, dairy, poultry, fisheries, tailoring, etc., which have been tested at the field level by various agencies and have the potential to be replicated in larger quantities. DRE-powered livelihood solutions have the potential to reduce and eventually eliminate the reliance of livelihoods on diesel and can supplement the grid supply. However, this is still only a small fraction of the overall spectrum of livelihood activities throughout the India.

• Microgrids will enable the creation of “eco-districts”: urban area, or region can use microgrids to create an “eco-district”—a specific community that focuses on connectivity and sustainable technology to impact how they live, work, and play.The eco-district capitalizes on localized energy by using renewable and sustainable energy delivery but does not rely solely on distributed energy as its main electricity source. Rather, the eco-district works closely with the utilities to find the right balance of both traditional centralized generation along with distributed energy so that the entire community’s needs are met. 

• Microgrid for e mobility infrastructure & e fleet management: eMobility will involve the next big push for microgrid deployment, specifically where CaaS (“charging as a service”) is required or being offered.  CaaS charging hubs should consider microgrids with a mix of generating solutions such as PV, energy storage, fuel cells, wind, and natural gas reciprocating engines to compliment the sustainability theme of electrical vehicles and deliver uninterrupted charging.

• Microgrids allow the developer and user to put generation closer to the load, so there are fewer losses and no need to build the expensive transmission and distribution networks that are typical with the central generation model in use in much of the world today. Distributed renewable energy microgrid technology holds significant potential as a key driver for increasing energy access for millions of people around the world without access to energy as well as for providing reliable and stable power to industry. Because the microgrid approach to electrical distribution allows local users more flexibility to control the optimization of power-sources and uses, it is growing in appeal.

• The market potential for microgrids is based on major segment, product type, connection type, power source, type, end user, and region.

• The growth rate of the Global Microgrids Market is 16.3%, with an estimated value of $40.3 Billion by 2026.

• Leading market companies,in Microgrid are including ABB Ltd., Eaton Corp. plc., General Electric, Honeywell International Inc, Schneider Electric SE and Siemens AG

FUTURE OF MICROGRID AND POTENTIAL IN INDIA

In an attempt to promote microgrids in India, the government issued a draft national policy on renewable energy-based mini- and microgrids. The policy proposes to set up at least 10,000 renewable micro-and mini-grid projects across the country, with 500 MW of generation capacity to be developed by private players by 2022 in order to cater to around 237 million people experiencing energy shortage.

Microgrids being local energy grids , can disconnect from the traditional grid and operate autonomously. Microgrids have the ability to strengthen and reinforce the traditional grid because they can function even when the main grid is down and are optimal for integrating renewable sources of energy.

In India, solar microgrids with an aggregate capacity of 1,899 kWp have been installed by 2020  in 63 villages with financial support (30 per cent of the project cost) from the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)

Husk Power Systems on Feb. 17 .2022,said it had closed $4.2 million in debt financing from the India Renewable Energy Development Agency (IREDA) to build as many as 140 microgrids in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, areas where Husk has operated smaller power generation projects since 2008. “The IREDA financing demonstrates the Government of India’s vision in making microgrids an integral part of its net-zero goal put forward at COP26,” said Manoj Sinha, Husk’s CEO and co-founder.He also said  “ The IREDA funding will give Husk a much-needed boost to achieve our target of expanding our microgrid fleet 10 times by 2025.”

NTPC

The foundation stone for one of the world’s largest and India’s first green hydrogen microgrid project was laid on Dec’21. NTPC has awarded the project, a standalone fuel-cell-based micro-grid with hydrogen production using electrolyser, at Simhadri to Bloom Energy India, Bengaluru. 

Tata Power

110KW Solar Microgrid in Sunderbans by TATA Power. Tata Power Solar successfully custom designed, engineered and installed a 110 kW solar plant that was commissioned in March 2011. The grid matches the average sunlight that the village gets 1 bright day followed by 1 cloudy day. Tata Power Solar has skillfully designed a solar powered grid that is simple, easy to use & maintain and manages to do all this at a very low cost of implementation. For a community that is remote and removed from civilization, Tata Power Solar has successfully provided Indrapur an economically viable and sustainable source of energy.

Challenges associated with microgrid

Stability, reliability, and protection are the key issues of microgrids due to reverse power flows of distributed generation units, local oscillations, transient modes of microgrid, severe frequency deviations in islanded mode operation, and economical and supply‐demand uncertainties of microgrid are the major challenges. Also the following points needs to be considered.

• The major challenges are adoption barrier and Integration Challenges.
•  Electrical energy needs to be stored in batteries which require space and maintenance.
• Re-synchronization with the main grid can be a problem.
• Issues such as standby charges as well as net metering are obstacles for microgrids.
• Microgrid protection is an obstacle standing against the implementation of microgrids.
• To ensure consistency, interconnection standards need to be developed.

CONCLUSION

Thus we see that microgrid is the future of energy market for a net zero carbon neutral world by 2070.The energy demand of India’s vast rural population  for a resilient, stable electricity supply will be met by the microgrid. The potential of sustainable microgrid with advancement in technology in the field of energy storage and cheap renewable power will be a game changer in the coming days. Thus SUSTAINABLE MICRO GRID : DECENTRALIZE DIGITALIZE DECARBONIZE is the watch word for an energy secured and carbon free world.

References:

1. 1. India Microgrid Market Opportunities & Forecast 2020-2027 (gmiresearch.com)[AM1] 
   2. https://finance.yahoo.com/news/global-microgrids-technologies-markets-report
   3. Microgrid Business Models and Value Chains (microgridknowledge.com)
   4. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/indian-microgrid-market-opportunity-report-2020-featuring-desi-power-gram-oorja-solutions-gram-power-mera-gao
   5. https://www.powermag.com/india-investing-millions-for-microgrids/
   6. https://www.renewableenergyworld.com/solar/the-role-of-microgrids-in-india/#gref