Plug-and-play Low Voltage DC Microgrid for Cheap and Clean Energy

Microgrids are small-scale power subsystems that include distributed energy generations, energy storages, and local loads. Microgrid technology will allow the power grid to accept more clean distributed renewable generations. It has great potential to increase the energy efficiency and security, and contribute to one of the UK industrial strategy priority areas "Cheap and Clean Energy".

Compared to alternating current (AC) power systems, direct current (DC) power systems has the advantages of simpler control, higher reliability and efficiency, and has gained a continually increasing interest in the last several years. This Fellowship will work together with UK industries to address the challenge of achieving plug-and-play low voltage DC microgrids, provide ease of use for the technology, and explore new business cases in both building and industrial applications.

The plug-and-play concept means the DC microgrid stable operation should not be affected by the connection/disconnection of power converters to the system, and the system control algorithm can be updated after a power converter is connected or disconnected. Also, users should have a group of compatible DC microgrid devices to choose from different manufacturers.

In this Fellowship, the fundamental mechanism of DC microgrid stability will be studied, and a novel passive interface filter based solution will be implemented, so that off-the-shelf power converters can be used without changing its design. Design guidelines and software tool will be provided for DC microgrid industrial engineers. A novel simultaneous power and information transfer technology will be developed for DC microgrid control, so that high performance plug-and-play control can be implemented without external communication links. Together with industrial project partners, a reconfigurable DC microgrid research and demonstration platform will be developed to evaluate and demonstrate the developed technology, and support industry to explore potential new business cases in building and industrial applications.

Who will benefit and how

Environmentally:
UK government has set the carbon target for 2050 in "Climate Change Act 2008", and committed to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by at least 80% lower than the 1990 baseline. Buildings, homes and industries are the largest energy consumers, and responsible for about 68% UK carbon dioxide emissions. Renewable energy and energy efficiency are key technologies for the green economy, and deploying low voltage DC (LVDC) microgrids in the building and industrial applications could integrate more distributed renewable generation in the power network, improve energy efficiency, and contribute to the UK's carbon target.
However, there are still quite a few hurdles to overcome for the widespread deployment of LVDC microgrids. This Fellowship aims to achieve plug-and-play DC microgrids, and provide ease of use the technology. The project team will closely work with industrial project partners, and a successful employment of the proposed technology in new building and industrial business cases will have a positive impact to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, and improve the national environmental sustainability.

Economically:
In the EU, the energy sector directly employs about 1.6 million people in the EU, and generates 250 billion Euros to the economy in 2016. In the UK, it has been estimated that energy efficiency innovation in buildings, homes and industry will have potential cost saving of £45~60bn to 2050. By working with industrial partners, the energy efficiency technology developed in this Fellowship will have the potential to contribute to current and future UK economic success.
As part of the proposed project objective, this Fellowship will support industry to explore business cases for the proposed plug-and-play DC microgrid in the application of building and application sectors. The planned research and demonstration platform will give industry confidence that the technology can be successfully deployed. Therefore, it would be of benefit immediately to industrial partners, and attract more R&D investment to the UK to adopt the technology into their applications.

Socially:
LVDC microgrid technology will effectively integrate energy storage and distributed renewable generation to the power distribution network, for both building and industrial applications. This can provide both uninterruptible supply in the event of power cuts and accessible supply in remote areas where grid is not available. It has been identified by RCUK and DST as the key enablers for demand reduction and demand flexibility.
This Fellowship will provide ease of use the technology, contribution to the national energy security, create savings on electricity bills, save tax payer's money (on subsidies), and reduce UKs carbon footprint.

What will be done to ensure they benefit
The project team will seek to maximise the impact of this Fellowship through effective dissemination and industrial engagement. Research outcomes will be published on high impact peer reviewed journals and international conferences. The team also will produce research results in the form that can be used by general public and industry, such as research reports, design guidelines, background papers, and media releases, etc. Project related information will be published on a project website and social networking websites, such as LinkedIn, which are open to both academics and the general public.

Outreach activities will be arranged to reach industries and general publics, which including two one-day workshops, conference presentations, industrial partner visitings, lab demonstrations, Aston University open day, etc. The project team also will look for future collaboration with industrial partners through Innovate UK (TSB) and KTP funding to further develop this technology, and will investigate other routes to the potential commercialisation of the project findings.