ENERGY + ENVIROFICIENCY
E
lectrical supply grids have to become smarter so that they can
self-optimise and improve their overall efficiency. Wind, solar,
tidal and hydropower generation facilities are becoming increas-
ingly mainstream as generating companies are developing alterna-
tives to traditional fossil fuels and nuclear power. Integrating these
assets into the supply grid has presented several new challenges, often
based on the fact that generating capacity is based on variable wind
speed, sun level and water flow. As a result, engineers are looking for
new ways to manage power flows, peak demands, etc.
Within a grid it is usual that the various power generation sites
are somewhat distant from one another and some distance from the
controlling operations centre. Therefore, control of the generating
site must be achievable, remotely.
The company that the author represents has workedwith a number
of partner companies to develop a completemicrogrid control solution.
Energy demand is growing, both in the developed and the devel-
oping world, as populations grow and urbanise, and economic activity
matures. Therefore, power supplies more than ever need to be reliable,
affordable and increasingly incorporate renewable energy sources.
Some electricity grids are 75 or even 100 years old; others have
been poorly maintained over many years, so find it difficult to meet
the ever-increasing demand. Therefore, the issues can be expressed
as a need to improve the capability of electrical grids to meet demand,
which is predicted to continue growing for many years. Options for a
large-scale rebuilding of the power delivery infrastructure are limited;
instead, innovative new technologies that convert existing grids into
smart flexible solutions that can be implemented over time seem to
be the way forward.
The partner companies are addressing this requirement by creat-
ing a complete microgrid control solution, based on NI CompactRIO
hardware. The software runs on embedded controllers deployed in key
points in the grid, distributing intelligence and decentralised decision-
making out to the remote devices and distributed energy resources.
The objective is to create a platform for securely managing power
flow, peak load, distributed generation, and other energy assets using
real-time data collection, analytics, and control on a distributed intel-
ligence network, pushing the decision-making out into the network,
increasing the system’s fault-tolerance. This solution is in fact a scal-
able architecture, which can be deployed on both large and small
grids, and is able to grow (or contract) with the needs of the operator.
Each device deployed to the network exhibits certain key features
including high-speed data capture, high-speed logging, event detec-
tion, protocol translation (including Modbus, DNP3, IEC 61850 [1], and
other custom protocols), custom control processing, custom control
algorithmdeployment processing, built-in security, and remote device
management. In addition, the open architecture allows expansion of
Embedded databases help
make grids
smarter
By N Rozier, Raima Inc
How embedding controllers around a grid can help measure power flows, demand requirements etc and leads to real-time management for
best performance.
Electricity+Control
July ‘14
44
