News at STRI
August 8, 2012 - Smart grids instead of new power lines?
The use of electricity from Distributed Energy Resources like wind and solar power will impact the performance of the electricity network and this sets a limit to the amount of such renewables that can be connected says STRI industrial PhD student Nicholas Etherden in his licentiate thesis. Investment in energy storage and communication technologies enables more renewables by operating the network closer to its limits.
Electricity networks using such novel techniques are referred to as "Smart Grids". Under favourable conditions the use of these techniques is an alternative to traditional network planning like replacement of transformers or construction of new power lines.
Nicholas work focus on how the permitted amount of renewables can be extended by means of storage, curtailment and advanced distributed protection and control schemes. This research is part of a joint development project at the High Voltage Valley (www.highvoltagevalley.se) titled "Smart Grid Energy Storage" and financed by the Swedish Governmental Agency for Innovation Systems. Other project participants apart from STRI are ABB, VB Elnät, KTH Royal Institute of Technology, Uppsala University and Luleå University of Technology. STRI’s contribution includes use of our unique Research Development and Demonstration (RD2) platform.
The licentiate is a half-way degree between the MSc and the PhD. The project will continue during 2012 and 2013. Nicholas Etherden presented his licentiate thesis on the topic Energy Engineering, June 13 at LTU in Skellefteå, Sweden. Examiner was professor Math Bollen, Luleå University of Technology who is like Nicholas employed by STRI AB. Discussant was professor Sami Repo, Tampere University of Technology, Finland.
The thesis can be downloaded at the link below:
Increasing the hosting capacity of distributed energy resources using storage and communication
