Smart Grid Means Big Change

Power Quality Doesn't Have To

The globally intensifying smart grid rollout calls on utilities to operate differently, but distribution engineering is undergoing the most significant transformation. Instead of receiving power from a few large-scale generators or the transmission grid, the smart grid envisions power flowing in different directions.

It's a change in topology, and it's up to distribution engineers to ensure a utility's service continues to operate optimally and power quality is not negatively impacted. Lessons learned around the world are driving technology and standards development to ease the transition smart grid is bringing about, particularly in interconnecting renewables and their impact on power quality.

Pressured to Change read more>>>

Smart grids and renewables to power India`s remote areas

Jul. 12, 2011 - India has begun setting up computerised ‘smart’ mini—grids powered with renewable energy sources to provide electricity in inaccessible areas.

India’s ministry of new and renewable energy (MNRE) this month (1 July) commissioned the country’s first 'renewable energy-based smart mini-grid system' at Gurgaon, outside New Delhi.

The computerised electricity distribution system is equipped with sophisticated sensors and control devices to manage local electricity supply drawn from a mix of solar cells, micro-hydro power plants, wind turbines and biomass.

The national power grid and small diesel-powered generators offer a back-up to the system should renewable energy supply fail. Response to power fluctuations and blackouts is faster than the conventional grid, Parineeta Mohanty, fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), New Delhi, told SciDev.Net.

'The system is based on a computer programme that picks up electricity from these sources, and monitors and balances the power according to requirement. The programme dictates how much energy will be picked up from which source at a particular time,' Bibek Bandyopadyay, who heads the solar energy centre at MNRE, said.

'Renewable energy, like solar and wind, is not always available. The smart grid helps in switching from one energy source to another depending on demand and availability, so that reliable power supply can be ensured at an affordable cost even in remote areas,' he explained.

Smart grids can be used, for example, in Lakshadweep, an archipelago in the Arabian Sea, which now depends on diesel shipped in from the mainland to power generators. read more>>>