Importance of Distributed Generation in Smart Grid: A Step Towards Energy

Sustainability
Vartika Sharma1, Harika Matta1 and H.D. Mathur2*
1
Student, Electronic and Instrumentation Department, BITS, Pilani, India
2
Assistant Professor, Electrical and Electronics Engg. Department, BITS, Pilani, India.
Email*: mathurhd@gmail.com

Abstract

Smart Grid technology is recognized as a key component of the solution to challenges such as increasing electric demand,
an aging utility infrastructure and workforce, and the environmental impact of greenhouse gases produced during electric
generation. Integrated Smart Grid solutions combine advanced sensing technology, two-way high-speed communications
using the utilities assets, 24/7 monitoring and enterprise analysis software and related services to provide location-
specific, real-time actionable data as well as home energy management solutions to provide enhanced services for the
end-users. As a result, these solutions increase the efficiency and reliability of the electric grid while reducing the
environmental impact of electric usage benefiting utilities, their customers, and the environment. This paper discusses
various smart grid solutions, its functions and broadly integration of distributed generation issues related with smart
grid.

Keywords: Distributed Generation, Smart Grid, Energy Efficient Distribution, Renewable Energy

1. INTRODUCTION

Today industry is poised to make the

transformation from a centralized, producer-
controlled network to one that is less
centralized and more consumer-interactive.
The move to a smarter grid promises to
change the industry’s entire business model
and its relationship with all stakeholders,
involving and affecting utilities, regulators,
energy service providers, technology and
automation vendors and all consumers of
electric power [1-3]. The term “smart grid”
represents a vision for a digital upgrade of
distribution and long distance transmission
grids by using robust two-way
communications, advanced sensors, and
distributed computers to improve the
efficiency, reliability and safety of power
delivery and use. Some of the benefits of such
a modernized electricity network include the
possibility to reduce power consumption at
consumer side during peak hours; facilitating
grid connection of distributed generation
power; grid energy storage for distributed
generation load balancing; and improved
reliability against many different component
failure scenarios. The increased efficiency and
reliability of the Smart grid is expected to save
consumers money and help reduce greenhouse
gas emissions [4-5].
The basic concept of Smart Grid is to
add monitoring, analysis, control, and
communication capabilities to the national
electrical delivery system to maximize the
throughput of the system while reducing the
energy consumption. The Smart Grid will
allow utilities to move electricity around the
system as efficiently and economically as
possible. It will also allow the homeowners
and business people to use electricity as
economically as possible. They will have the
choice and flexibility to manage their
electrical use while minimizing costs. Smart
Grid builds on many of the technologies
already used by electric utilities but adds
communication and control capabilities that
will optimize the operation of the entire
electrical grid. Smart Grid is also positioned to
take advantage of new technologies, such as
plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, various forms
of distributed generation, solar energy, smart
metering, lighting management systems,
distribution automation, and many more [6].
2. FUNCTIONS OF SMART GRID
Apart from particular technologies, this can be
understood in terms of what it is being
required to do. The governments and utilities
funding development of grid modernization
have defined the functions required for smart
grids. According to the United States
Department of Energy's (DOE) Modern Grid
Initiative report, a modern smart grid must:
● Be able to heal itself: Using real-time
information from embedded sensors and
automated controls to anticipate, detect, and
respond to system problems, a smart grid can
automatically avoid or mitigate power
outages, power quality problems, and service
disruptions.
● Motivate consumers to actively participate
in operations of the grid: A smart grid
incorporates consumer equipment and
behavior in grid design, operation, and
communication. This enables consumers to
better control “smart appliances” and
“intelligent equipment” in homes and
businesses, interconnecting energy
management systems in “smart buildings” and
enabling consumers to better manage energy
use and reduce energy costs. Advanced
communications capabilities equip customers
to exploit real-time electricity pricing,
incentive-based load reduction signals, or
emergency load reduction signals. The real-
time, two-way communications available in a
smart grid will enable consumers to be
compensated for their efforts to save energy
and to sell energy back to the grid through net-
metering.
● Resist attack: Technologies better identify
and respond to manmade or natural
disruptions. Real-time information enables
grid operators to isolate affected areas and
redirect power flows around damaged
facilities.
● Provide higher quality power that will save
money wasted: New power quality standards
will balance load sensitivity with delivered
power quality at a reasonable price. The smart
grid will supply varying grades of power
quality at different pricing levels.
● Accommodate all generation and storage
options: As smart grids continue to support
traditional power loads they also seamlessly
interconnect fuel cells, renewables, micro
turbines, and other distributed generation
technologies at local and regional levels.
Integration of small-scale, localized, or on-site
power generation allows residential,
commercial, and industrial customers to self-
generate and sell excess power to the grid with
minimal technical or regulatory barriers. This
also improves reliability and power quality,
reduces electricity costs, and offers more
customer choice.
● Enable electricity markets to flourish: The
smart grid will enable more market
participation through increased transmission
paths, aggregated demand response initiatives
and the placement of energy resources
including storage within a more reliable
distribution system that is closer to the
consumer. By reducing congestion, the smart
grid expands markets; it brings together more
buyers and sellers. Consumer response to
price increases felt through real time pricing
will mitigate demand, driving lower-cost
solutions and spurring new technology
development.
● Run more efficiently: A smart grid can
optimize capital assets while minimizing
operations and maintenance costs. Optimized
power flows reduce waste and maximize use
of lowest-cost generation resources.
Harmonizing local distribution with
interregional energy flows and transmission
traffic improves use of existing grid assets and
reduces grid congestion and bottlenecks,
which can ultimately produce consumer
savings.
These seven characteristics describe a
vision for the smart grid that is generally more
resilient and distributed, more intelligent,
more controllable and better protected than
today’s grid. Figure 1 show the energy-
efficiency which is brought by smart grid [7-
10, 15, 16].
 Figure 1. Energy Efficient Smart Grid
3. DISTRIBUTED GENERATION
INTEGRATION WITH A SMART
GRID
Distributed energy includes distributed
generation and distributed energy storage,
and smart grid lies in building the
intelligent network system with intelligent
judgments, adaptive ability and distributed
management, which can monitor and
collect power information of the network
and the user in real-time, and use the most
economic and secure transmission and
distribution methods to convey electricity
to end-users, in order to achieve energy
optimal allocation and utilization ,improve
grid operations reliability and energy
efficiency. Distributed Energy Resources
(DER) have many different types, including
hydroelectric power, wind power, solar
power, micro turbines, fuel cells and energy
storage devices (such as the flywheel, super
capacitors, superconducting magnetic
energy storage and sodium sulfur batteries
etc.).Weather-driven, non-scheduled,
renewable energy sources require new
operational procedures. Conventional fossil
fuel power plants can be operated in
accordance with the needs of the power
system; the present power system operating
procedures were designed with this in
mind. Renewable energy sources such as
wind or solar are variable and thus the
operating schedules of such plants are largely
dictated by the changing “fuel” supply. This is
especially pertinent in the case of wind,
photovoltaic solar and run-of-the-river hydro,
none of which have inherent storage in their
power plant design.
These systems cannot be controlled in the same
manner as a conventional generation facility.
With low levels of wind or solar energy
penetration the overall effect on grid operations
is limited, yet as the penetration levels increase
so too do the effects. It has been recognized that
as the penetration levels increase, more advanced
control of the power system will be required to
maintain system reliability. These controls
include more efficient use of transmission, use of
demand response and intelligent energy storage,
all of which can be enabled through the
application of a smart grid. In fact, the ability to
better integrate renewable energy is one of the
driving factors in some smart grid installations
[8, 9, 11].
4. ASSESSING RENEWABLE ENERGY IN
A SMART GRID
A smart grid must be able to make decisions and
those decisions must be based upon information.
However, not all of that information is
necessarily “live” data. In fact, when designing a
smart grid the likely limitations on the system
must be understood – some of these limitations
will be physical, some will be contractual
and some may even be political. Without
enabling the smart grid to properly handle
These limitations, the smart grid
would not perform correctly. For example,
a smart grid may allow for load
curtailment, but no consumer is going to be
happy to accept such an agreement without
some guarantee of a maximum number of
interruptions. Similarly, storage may be
purchased to allow for better operation of
localized portions of the power system
(taking strain off transmission during
constrained periods) or even utilizing
storage that is designed to support the
power system as a whole. Alternatively, the
storage may be sourced from an electric-
vehicle-to-grid arrangement, but again an
agreement must be made on how often the
system can cycle the batteries and how
much it is allowed to draw them down.
Such system design decisions, whether in
terms of contractual agreements or the
installment of physical equipment, must be
based on accurate information about the
degree of flexibility that is required. If high
levels of non-scheduled renewable energy
are employed in the system, these will tend
to dominate the flexibility requirements and
so careful assessment of the renewable
energy resources is vital when setting-up a
smart grid, re-negotiating contracts or
considering installation of physical
equipment. In essence, an assessment of the
variability of renewable energy and the
effects on the power system must be
performed. Integration studies are
continuing to improve and as the level of
sophistication increases, so too does
importance of accurately modeling the
“fuel” that drives the renewable energy [8].
In order to assess the likely behaviour of
long-term patterns the best information we
have about the future is what has happened
in the past. Unfortunately, long-term
records of renewable energy production are
not available for a vast majority of the
generation plants. Most plants have only
been operational for a few years at most
and the growth rate of new renewable
energy is still a significant portion of total
installation. In fact, it is usually not even
possible to obtain long-term, on-site
meteorological data. Thus, an alternative must be
used to be able to obtain the historical
information used to determine the requirements
for the smart grid.
In fact, one of the strongest advantages of
using numerical weather prediction modeling to
downscale reanalysis datasets is that long-term
records can be obtained. It is possible to perform
a 40-year climate variability analysis, detailing
the hour-by hour wind and power capacity at a
site. This level of detail may not be warranted for
small energy installations, but for large
installations (or even high concentrations of
small installations) this information can be used
to develop some key decision making tools that
allow the optimization of the system design [11-
16].
5. CONCLUSION
With the social and economic development, and
increasingly highlighted problems of energy
shortages and environmental, it is continually
increasing demands for network reliability, and
needs of service quality were more diverse, as
well as the requirements of power efficiency has
improved markedly. Smart Grid has become an
important direction of development of a global
power industry.
In conclusion, the smart grid brings both
benefits and design challenges to the utility, its
customers, and the associated technologists. The
electric power system is arguably the world’s
largest machine, if one defines a machine as a
series of interconnected parts that form a
common system. Transient stability, I2R losses,
communications, security, system architecture
and modeling are all parts of the complex
picture. To accommodate a more flexible,
dynamic, secure, and diverse system, the smart
grid is an essential component on the path to the
energy future.
REFERENCES
[1] “Smart Grid Policy”, [Docket No. PL09-4-
000], Issued July 16, 2009, Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, USA.
[2] “Title XIII - Smart Grid, Sec. 1301,
Statement of Policy on Modernization of
Electricity Grid”, Energy Independence and [15] The U.S. Department of Energy, "The Smart
Security Act of 2007 (EISA), USA. Grid: An Introduction," Oct. 2008.
[3] “Smart Grid Systems”, SB1438, [16] The National Energy Technology
California, USA. Laboratory, "A Vision For The Modern Grid,"
[4] American Recovery and Reinvestment March 2007.
Act of 2009, P. L. 111-5, USA.
[5] “Cost of Power Interruptions to
Electricity Consumers in the United States
(U.S.)”, LBNL-58164, by Kristina
Hamachi LaCommare, and
Joseph H. Eto, February, 2006.
[6] S. Massoud Amin and B.F. Wollenberg,
"Toward a smart grid: power delivery for
the 21st century," IEEE Power and Energy
Magazine, Vol. 3, No. 5 Sept.-Oct. 2005,
pp. 34-41.
[7] Thomas F. Garrity, "Getting Smart,"
IEEE Power and Energy Magazine, Vol. 6,
No. 2 Mar.-Apr. 2008, pp. 38-45.
[8] D. Pudjianto, C. Ramsay, and G. Strbac,
"Virtual power plant and system integration
of distributed energy resources,"
Renewable Power Generation, March 2007.
[9] Potter, C.W.; Archambault, A.;
Westrick, K, “Building a smarter smart grid
through better renewable energy
information”, In the Proceedings of Power
system and energy exposition,2009, pp.1-5
[10] Xie Kai, Liu Yong-qi, Zhu Zhi-zhong,
and YU Er-keng, " The Vision of Future
Smart Grid," Electric Power, vol. 41, No.6,
pp. 19-22, Jun. 2008.
[11] Wang Ming-ju, " Self-Healing Grid
and Distributed Energy Resource," Power
System Technology, vol. 31, No.6, Mar.
2007.
[12] Ding Ming, Bao Min, and Wu Hong-
bin, “Economic Dispatching on Distributed
Energy Supply System," Journal of
Electric Power Science and Technology,
vol. 23, No.1, pp. 13-17, Mar. 2008.
[13] D. Divan and H. Johal, "A Smarter
Grid for Improving System Reliability and
Asset Utilization," Power Electronics and
Motion Control Conference, August, 2006.
[14] Richard E. Brown, "Impact of Smart
Grid on Distribution System Design,"
presented at Power and Energy Society
General Meeting- Conversion and Delivery
of Electrical Energy in the 21st Century,
July 2008.