Smart grids implement two-way communication, sensors and intelligent control to improve the efficiency, sustainability and functionality of electricity distribution. Integrating renewable energy sources (RESs) will soon be much easier.
Sunny and/or windy climates of many isolated European regions, including in Greece, Spain, Italy, Cyprus, Portugal and the United Kingdom, are the source of high RES potential. In fact, a large portion of installed RES capacity is located in insular (non-interconnected) electricity grids. However, managing these insular contributors poses special challenges due to their unreliable and unpredictable electricity generation.
The EU is funding the ambitious 'Smart and sustainable insular electricity grids under large-scale renewable integration' (SINGULAR) project to propose necessary network planning and operation procedures and tools. Concepts are being demonstrated in five different insular electricity grids across Europe. The end goal is to support the maximum possible integration of insular and highly variable RESs into a large-scale contemporary smart grid.
Operation tools include RES forecasting, power analysis, scheduling tools, and management of risk and uncertainty. A forecasting service can now exploit historical weather data to forecast hourly RESs production over the next few days. Extensive progress has been made regarding development of power analysis tools. Results were widely disseminated at conferences and workshops. In addition, scheduling tools have already been implemented at pilot sites on the islands Sao Miguel (Azores) in Portugal and Crete in Greece.
The team has already made recommendations about the grid code requirements for insular networks and grid connection of distributed generation devices or systems. Special consideration has been given to electrical energy storage to help stabilise intermittent RES supply. Planning procedures and tools for integration with large-scale networks include an algorithm that incorporates RESs into a traditional expansion tool. It was successfully applied to a Spanish test site, demonstrating a substantial decrease in cost compared to no investment in distributed generation.
SINGULAR is developing novel models and tools for a new electricity network and market concept. The project garnered a Best Paper award and two Best Presentation awards at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers' (IEEE) POWERENG 2015 Conference. It plans to open the road to large-scale integration and exploitation of RESs in insular electricity networks, a stepping stone on the path to replacing fossil fuel combustion with RESs.
