Affordable and clean energy via resilient and autonomous micro-grids

Lead Research Organisation: University of Sheffield
Department Name: Automatic Control and Systems Eng

Abstract

The rising integration of distributed renewable energy resources (DERs), i.e. renewable energy systems, energy storage systems and active loads, to the power grid has increased the need for decentralised power network infrastructures utilising distributed generation and storage in a local and autonomous manner (micro-grids). Since DERs suffer from increased volatility in the supply (renewable energy systems) and demand (consumer behaviour), the key challenge is to achieve a reliable, stable and resilient operation of modern micro-grid systems in order to provide clean and cheap energy to both power producers and consumers (households, businesses). The solution to this challenge is hidden in the 'control design of DERs'. A decentralised control approach for DER units that operates with minimum communication under both normal and abnormal conditions (faults, unit disconnections, loss of communication) will significantly increase system resilience and pave the way towards a new generation of micro-grids, where clean energy will be utilised at a cheaper price within the premises of a local community of producers and consumers.

The aim of this fellowship proposal is to develop a novel control engineering approach for maximum utilisation of DERs in a local community-type micro-grid architecture based on the unique 'bounded integral control' methodology that can rigorously prove nonlinear stability of the entire micro-grid system. Using a private power network infrastructure that links producers and consumers of a local community (neighbourhood) with central and local storage units behind the meter, new Peer-to-Peer (P2P) energy-trading opportunities will be generated via this community-type micro-grid, leading to at least 20% financial benefits for every community member. The resilience of the system will be guaranteed via the advanced control technologies for the power converter-fed DER units, which will rigorously guarantee a stable and reliable micro-grid operation in a decentralised manner (minimum communication requirements). Both fundamental and applied research will be generated by the proposed research, i.e. the generalised bounded integral control theory with nonlinear stability analysis for micro-grids, and novel decentralised control technologies for integrating DERs.

Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the proposed approach that combines 'control' and 'power' engineering research areas, the fellowship will lead to the development of a strong and sustainable research group that will produce world-leading research and technological solutions in the areas of control systems, micro-grids and smart grids directly aligned with the UK industrial strategy of 'cheap and clean energy technologies'. Based on the strong industrial (Infinite Renewables, Crossflow Energy, Yokogawa, OPAL RT) and academic support (Prof J. Guerrero from Aalborg University), and building on the existing links of the industrial partners with UK Housing Associations, suitable sites (e.g. new-build communities) will be identified to implement the proposed technology and generate the first autonomous community-type micro-grid in the UK.

Planned Impact

The impact goals of this research are to:
- Provide evidence that intelligently controlled community-type micro-grids with a private power infrastructure and central energy storage pool can provide clean energy to every community member (producer, consumer or both) at a reduced cost;
- Develop advanced control methods for integrating power converter-fed DERs that operate with limited communication requirements in micro-grids and can rigorously guarantee the stability and resilience of the power system;
- Recommend control techniques that will enhance system inertia and support the grid during faults (fault-ride-through) to National Grid and DNOs in order to rethink policies and intergration requirements for DERs - this will lead to large-scale utilisation of renewable energy systems;
- Design P2P energy trading optimisation algorithms with online price and contract adjustment aiming for at least 20% financial benefits to every community member;

The impact of the proposed research to the academic community is high since researchers from both areas of 'control theory' and 'power systems' will benefit from: i) the development of a novel fundamental bounded integral control theory and the nonlinear stabilisation of micro-grids and ii) the design and implementation of a resilient community-type micro-grid infrastructure that utilises clean and cheap energy within the premises of the local community. This academic impact will be maximised due to the collaboration of the with the leading research group of Aalborg University in the area of micro-grids led by Prof. Josep Guerrero (one research visit to Denmark per year has been planned), which will lead to high-quality research publications in top-rated journals of control and power systems.

Due to the strong industrial support, the proposed research will lead to high industrial impact since Infinite Renewables Ltd (industrial partner) has strong links with UK Housing Associations (Pennaf), which are currently looking into community micro-grids. The new-built housing community development at Plas Telford, Acrefair, Wrexham, represents one of the several sites for the case study of this research. The advanced control methods that will be developed for power converter-fed units will be integrated and retrofitted into existing renewable energy schemes in addition to new developments. The community-type micro-grid will enable each individual community member to benefit from increased energy production and generation revenue and a reduction in on-site power costs. Wider impacts of this project and possible stakeholders include:
- Benefits to housing communities. The research from this fellowship will enable direct exchange of energy between community members allowing generators to sell energy in a higher price compared to current Feed-In Tariffs and consumers to use energy in a lower cost compared to the £/kWh energy consumption cost.
- Addressing fuel poverty. Housing Associations (e.g. Pennaf) are very keen to utilise the system and get involved in pilot projects to help tackle fuel poverty and reducing energy costs which would be achieved at a "local" level.
- Contribution to legislative requirements. The Renewable Energy Directive requires 20% of total energy needs to come from renewables by 2020. This project will contribute by creating enabling technologies that will extract greater efficiency from renewables and will contribute to the grid stability.
- Contribution to industry standards. The British Standards Institute (BSI) has several renewable energy technical committees working on developing standards. Outcomes of this fellowship will support BSI to explore the creation of a new industry standard or Code of Practice for community-wide micro-grids.
 
Description A new smart inverter technology has been generated to seamlessly integrate different renewable energy resources with the electricity grid. A control method for intelligently operating and stabilising a DC microgrid community has been also developed. Furthermore, detailed stability conditions have been obtained for both AC and DC microgrids for their stable and resilient operation. All technologies have been experimentally verified on a real test-bed.
Exploitation Route The developed smart inverter technology has been tested in the lab but also deployed at the ADEPT microgrid in S. Wales owned by the industrial partner Infinite Renewables (https://www.infiniterenewables.com/technologies/battery/).
Sectors Electronics

Energy

Environment

URL https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hEC2p1aXWY
 
Description Control technologies related to inverter control and optimal power management of multiple distributed energy resources that have developed in this project by the research group have been already adopted by the industry (see relevant videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bT5hMxmS29Q and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hEC2p1aXWY). These technologies enhance the financial and environmental benefits of local communities (industrial and residentials) due to the maximum utilisation of cheap and clean energy technologies at a local level (intelligent micro-grid structure). Furthermore, the proposed control technology led the proof-of-concept design of the Hybrid Energy System of Crossflow Energy company (https://crossflowenergy.co.uk/technology/).
First Year Of Impact 2020
Sector Electronics,Energy,Environment
Impact Types Societal

Economic

 
Description Collaboration with Typhoon HIL 
Organisation Typhoon HIL
Country United States 
Sector Private 
PI Contribution We will utilise the Typhoon HIL real-time devices to test experimentally and via HIL implementation the control algorithms we develop in this project. The results will be published in world-leading journals and conferences. A webinar will be also organised to demonstrate the HIL implementation.
Collaborator Contribution Donation of Typhoon HIL 602p real-time device.
Impact A journal paper is currently under preparation.
Start Year 2020
 
Description Participation in Energy Revolution Research Consortium EnergyREV 
Organisation University of Strathclyde
Country United Kingdom 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution Expertise in control technologies for smart local energy systems. I have also provided the ADEPT industrial micro-grid site of my recently completed Innovate UK project as an energy demonstrator to be investigated and evaluated by the EnergyREV team.
Collaborator Contribution Expertise in Cyber-Physical systems (sensors, AI, state estimation) and additional energy demonstrators to investigate and test novel control technologies in order to put the 'smart' into local energy systems.
Impact Development of a UK consortium to investigate the concept of smart local energy systems from a whole-systems approach (including engineering, finance, policies, social sciences).
Start Year 2018
 
Description Research collaboration with the University of Patras, Greece 
Organisation University of Patras
Country Greece 
Sector Academic/University 
PI Contribution The PI together with that PDRAs Pablo Rodolfo Baldivieso Monasterios and Andrei-Constantin Braitor collaborated with Prof. Antonio Alexandridis and his research group in the area of modelling and control of microgrids, by developing the control algorithms for grid-connected wind-battery microgrids.
Collaborator Contribution Prof. Alexandridis contributed in the above research by developing tools to support the stability analysis of the microgrid system.
Impact - Baldivieso-Monasterios PR, Konstantopoulos GC & Alexandridis AT (2022) Model-based two-layer control design for optimal power management in wind-battery microgrids. Journal of Energy Storage, 48, 104005-104005. - Konstantopoulos G, Alexandridis AT & Papageorgiou PC (2020) Towards the integration of modern power systems into a cyber-physical framework. Energies, 13(9).
Start Year 2020
 
Description Winter School Toila 2019 
Form Of Engagement Activity Participation in an activity, workshop or similar
Part Of Official Scheme? No
Geographic Reach International
Primary Audience Postgraduate students
Results and Impact Winter school in Toila, Estonia, for PhD students from several EU countries (Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Sweden, UK, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal, Switzerland, Spain, Poland and others) working in the area of power electronics. There were more than 150 participants and the programme included invited talks from academic experts. The research conducted in this EPSRC fellowship project was presented as an invited talk and was followed by discussions for collaborative research opportunities with the research team from TalTech.
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity 2019
URL https://www.ttu.ee/egdk/eng/