Smart Grids and Role of Power

Electronics in RESs
 Historical development of the electricity grid
• The first alternating current power grid system was installed in 1886 in Great
Barrington, Massachusetts.[6] At that time, the grid was a centralized unidirectional
system of electric power transmission, electricity distribution, and demand-driven
control.
• In the 20th century local grids grew over time, and were eventually interconnected
for economic and reliability reasons. By the 1960s, the electric grids of developed
countries had become very large, mature and highly interconnected, with
thousands of 'central' generation power stations delivering power to major load
centres via high capacity power lines which were then branched and divided to
provide power to smaller industrial and domestic users over the entire supply area.
• Power stations were located strategically to be close to fossil fuel reserves (either
the mines or wells themselves, or else close to rail, road or port supply lines). Siting
of hydro-electric dams in mountain areas also strongly influenced the structure of
the emerging grid. Nuclear power plants were sited for availability of cooling water.
Finally, fossil fuel-fired power stations were initially very polluting and were sited as
far as economically possible from population centres once electricity distribution
networks permitted it. By the late 1960s, the electricity grid reached the
overwhelming majority of the population of developed countries, with only outlying
regional areas remaining 'off-grid'.
• Metering of electricity consumption was necessary on a per-user basis in order to allow
appropriate billing according to the (highly variable) level of consumption of different
users. Because of limited data collection and processing capability during the period of
growth of the grid, fixed-tariff arrangements were commonly put in place, as well as dual-
tariff arrangements where night-time power was charged at a lower rate than daytime
power. The motivation for dual-tariff arrangements was the lower night-time demand.
Dual tariffs made possible the use of low-cost night-time electrical power in applications
such as the maintaining of 'heat banks' which served to 'smooth out' the daily demand,
and reduce the number of turbines that needed to be turned off overnight, thereby
improving the utilization and profitability of the generation and transmission facilities. The
metering capabilities of the 1960s grid meant technological limitations on the degree to
which price signals could be propagated through the system.
• From the 1970s to the 1990s, growing demand led to increasing numbers of power
stations. In some areas, the supply of electricity, especially at peak times, could not keep
up with this demand, resulting in poor power quality including blackouts, power cuts, and
brownouts. Increasingly, electricity was depended on for industry, heating,
communication, lighting, and entertainment, and consumers demanded ever higher levels
of reliability.
• Towards the end of the 20th century, electricity demand patterns were established:
domestic heating and air-conditioning led to daily peaks in demand that were met by an
array of 'peaking power generators' that would only be turned on for short periods each
day. The relatively low utilization of these peaking generators (commonly, gas turbines
were used due to their relatively lower capital cost and faster start-up times), together
• Over the last years, Electrical Energy ( EE) consumption has
continually grown, on the other hand , at the same time ,
investment in the TD ( Transmission and Distribution )
infrastructure has increasingly declined.
• Traditional solutions for upgrading the electrical system
infrastructure have been primarily in the form of new power plants,
new transmission lines, substations, and associated equipment.
• However, as experience has proven, the process of authorizing,
locating, and constructing new transmission lines has become
extremely difficult, expensive and time consuming. As a result the
power grid is under stress, resulting in-compromised reliability and
higher energy costs.
• Rapid load growth leads to jamming on key lines which, in
consequence, leads to an inefficient operation of energy markets.
 Modernization opportunities

• Since the early 21st century, opportunities to take advantage of improvements

in electronic communication technology to resolve the limitations and costs of
the electrical grid have become apparent.
• Technological limitations on metering no longer force peak power prices to be
averaged out and passed on to all consumers equally.
• In parallel, growing concerns over environmental damage from fossil-fired
power stations has led to a desire to use large amounts of renewable energy.
• Dominant forms such as wind power and solar power are highly variable, and
so the need for more sophisticated control systems became apparent, to
facilitate the connection of sources to the otherwise highly controllable grid.
• Power from photovoltaic cells has also, significantly, called into question the
imperative for large, centralized power stations. The rapidly falling costs point
to a major change from the centralized grid topology to one that is highly
distributed, with power being both generated and consumed right at the limits
of the grid.
• Finally, growing concern over terrorist attack in some countries has led to calls
for a more robust energy grid that is less dependent on centralized power
stations that were perceived to be potential attack targets.
 Smart Grid
• A smart grid is a modernized electrical grid
that uses analogue or digital
information and communications technology
to gather and act on information, such as
information about the behaviors of suppliers
and consumers, in an automated fashion to
improve the efficiency, reliability, economics,
and sustainability of the production and
distribution of electricity.
 Smart grid features
• Reliability
– The smart grid will make use of technologies that improve fault detection and allow
self-healing of the network without the intervention of technicians. This will ensure more
reliable supply of electricity, and reduced liability to natural disasters or attack.
• Flexibility in network
– Next-generation transmission and distribution infrastructure will be better able to handle
possible bidirection energy flows, allowing for distributed generation such as from
photovoltaic panels on building roofs, but also the use of fuel cells, charging to/from the
batteries of electric cars, wind turbines, pumped hydroelectric power, and other sources.
• Efficiency
– Load adjustment/Load balancing
The total load connected to the power grid can vary significantly over time. Although the total
load is the sum of many individual choices of the clients, the overall load is not a stable, slow
varying. FOR EXAMPLE, if a popular television program starts and millions of televisions will draw
current instantly. A smart grid may warn all individual television sets, or another larger customer,
to reduce the load temporarily (to allow time to start up a larger generator) or continuously (in the
case of limited resources). Using mathematical prediction algorithms it is possible to predict how
many standby generators need to be used, to reach a certain failure rate.
– In the traditional grid, the failure rate can only be reduced at the cost of more standby generators.
In a smart grid, the load reduction by even a small portion of the clients may eliminate the
problem.
 – Peak leveling and time of use pricing
To reduce demand during the high cost peak usage periods, communications
and metering technologies inform smart devices in the home and business
when energy demand is high and track how much electricity is used and when it
is used. It also gives utility companies the ability to reduce consumption by
communicating to devices directly in order to prevent system overloads. To
motivate them to cut back use and perform what is called peak curtailment or
peak leveling, prices of electricity are increased during high demand periods,
and decreased during low demand periods.

• Sustainability
– The improved flexibility of the smart grid permits greater penetration of highly
variable renewable energy sources such as solar power and wind power, even
without the addition of energy storage. Current network infrastructure is not
built to allow for many distributed feed-in points, and typically even if some feed-
in is allowed at the local (distribution) level, the transmission-level infrastructure
cannot accommodate it. Rapid fluctuations in distributed generation, such as due
to cloudy or gusty weather, present significant challenges to power engineers
who need to ensure stable power levels through varying the output of the more
controllable generators such as gas turbines and hydroelectric generators. Smart
grid technology is a necessary condition for very large amounts of renewable
electricity on the grid for this reason.
• Market enabling
The smart grid allows for systematic communication between suppliers (their energy price)
and consumers (their willingness-to-pay), and permits both the suppliers and the consumers
to be more flexible and sophisticated in their operational strategies. Only the critical loads
will need to pay the peak energy prices, and consumers will be able to be more strategic in
when they use energy.
Generators with greater flexibility will be able to sell energy strategically for maximum
profit. The overall effect is a signal that awards energy efficiency, and energy consumption
that is sensitive to the time-varying limitations of the supply.
At the domestic level, appliances with a degree of energy storage or thermal mass (such as
refrigerators, heat banks, and heat pumps) will be well placed to 'play' the market and seek
to minimize energy cost by adapting demand to the lower-cost energy support periods.

• Demand response support

Demand response support allows generators and loads to interact in an automated
fashion in real time, coordinating demand to flatten spikes. Eliminating the fraction of
demand that occurs in these spikes eliminates the cost of adding reserve generators, and
allows users to cut their energy bills by telling low priority devices to use energy only
when it is cheapest.

– Platform for advanced services

It also opens up the potential for entirely new services or improvements on existing ones, such as fire
monitoring and alarms that can shut off power, make phone calls to emergency services, etc.
• Technology
– Integrated communication
Integrated communications will allow for real-time control, information and
data exchange to optimize system reliability, asset utilization, and security.
Areas for improvement include: substation automation, demand response,
distribution automation, supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA),
energy management systems, wireless mesh networks and other
technologies, power-line carrier communications, and fiber-optics.
– Sensing and measurement
• Smart metering
A smart grid often replaces analog mechanical meters with digital meters that
record usage in real time. Often this technology is referred to as Advanced
Metering Infrastructure (AMI). Advanced Metering Infrastructure may provide
a communication path extending from power generation plants on one end all
the way to end-use electrical consumption in homes and businesses. These
end use consumption devices may include smart socket and other smart grid-
enabled appliances such as water heaters and devices such as thermostats.
Depending on the utility program, customers may be contacted or devices
may be shut down or have their setting modified automatically during times
of peak demand.
 • Phasor measurement units
High speed sensors called PMUs distributed throughout a transmission network
can be used to monitor the state of the electric system. PMUs can take
measurements at rates of up to 30 times per second., which is much faster than
the speed of existing SCADA technologies. Phasors are representations of the
magnitude and phase of alternating voltage at a point in the network. Research
suggests that with large numbers of PMUs and the ability to compare voltage
phase angles at key points on the grid, automated systems may be able to
transform the management of power systems by responding to system conditions
in a rapid, dynamic fashion.
– Other advanced component
• Distributed power flow control
Power flow control devices clamp onto existing transmission lines to control the
flow of power. Transmission lines enabled with such devices support greater use
of renewable energy by providing more consistent, real-time control over how
that energy is routed within the grid. This technology enables the grid to more
effectively store intermittent energy from renewables for later use.
• Smart power generation using advanced components
Smart power generation is a concept of matching electricity production with
demand using multiple identical generators which can start, stop and operate
efficiently at chosen load, independently of the others, making them suitable for
base load and peaking power generation.
– Improved interface and decision making
• Information systems that reduce complexity so that operators and managers have
tools to effectively and efficiently operate a grid with an increasing number of
variables.
• Technologies include visualization techniques that reduce large quantities of data
into easily understood visual formats, software systems that provide multiple
options when systems operator actions are required.
– IT companies disrupting the energy market
• Smart grid provides IT-based solutions which the traditional power grid is lacking.
• Technology companies are disrupting the traditional energy market players in
several ways.
• They develop complex distribution systems to meet the more decentralized power
generation due to microgrids. Additionally is the increase in data collection bringing many
new possibilities for technology companies as deploying transmission grid sensors at a user
level and balancing system reserves.
• The technology in microgrids makes energy consumption cheaper for households than
buying from utilities. Additionally, residents can manage their energy consumption easier
and more effectively with the connection to smart meters. However, the performances and
reliability of microgrids strongly depend on the continuous interaction between power
generation, storage and load requirements. A hybrid offering combining renewable energy
sources with storing energy sources as coal and gas is showing the hybrid offering of a
microgrid serving alone.
 Oppositions and concerns
• Most opposition and concerns have centered on smart meters
and the items (such as remote control, remote disconnect, and
variable rate pricing) enabled by them. Specific points of
opposition or concern include:
– consumer concerns over privacy, e.g. use of usage data by law
enforcement
– social concerns over "fair" availability of electricity
– concern that complex rate systems (e.g. variable rates) remove clarity
and accountability, allowing the supplier to take advantage of the
customer
– concern over remotely controllable "kill switch" incorporated into most
smart meters
– concerns over giving the government mechanisms to control the use of
all power using activities
– concerns over RF emissions from smart meters
– Security/Privacy (cyber attacks)
 Microgrid
A microgrid is a group of interconnected loads
and distributed energy resources within clearly
defined electrical boundaries that acts as a single
controllable entity with respect to the main grid.
A microgrid can connect and disconnect from the
main grid to enable it to operate in both grid-
connected or island-mode.
Characteristics of Microgrids
• It supervises the electrical components, such as powers, voltages and frequencies by
means of monitors.
• It has a PCC in a distribution network for connecting and disconnecting the grid utility.
• It is a subset of LV or medium-voltage (MV) distribution networks.
• It consists of generation units, a hierarchical control approach, power consumption places
and energy storage systems.
• It facilitates an uninterrupted power supply to, at least, the highest priority loads during a
grid failure or power quality degradation.
• It has two operating modes: (1) grid-connected; and (2) islanded or standalone
(autonomous).
• It acts as a single controllable entity from the grid perspective.
• It generates the required reference voltage and frequency in an islanded operation.
• It is constructed in a defined location which can be in a distribution network or remote
area.
• It has the necessary protection schemes.
• It controls the power supply during both grid-connected and islanding operations.
• It displays ‘plug and play’ features and ‘peer to peer’ functionality.
• It adjusts to abnormal situations (unintentional islanding or faults).
• It uses local information to control the power flow of DG units.
• It can possess ac and/or dc distribution networks.
Challenges
• Bidirectional power flows: The presence of distributed generation (DG) units in the network at
low voltage levels can cause reverse power flows that may lead to complications in protection
coordination, undesirable power flow patterns, fault current distribution, and voltage control.
• Stability issues: Interactions between control system of DG units may create local oscillations,
requiring a thorough small-disturbance stability analysis. Moreover, transition activities
between the grid-connected and islanding (stand-alone) modes of operation in a microgrid can
create transient instability. Recent studies have shown that direct-current (DC) microgrid
interface can result in a significantly simpler control structure, more energy efficient
distribution and higher current carrying capacity for the same line ratings.
• Modeling: Many characteristics of traditional schemes such as the prevalence of three-phase
balanced conditions, primarily inductive transmission lines, and constant-power loads, do not
necessarily hold true for microgrids, and consequently, models need to be revised.
• Low inertia: Microgrids exhibit a low-inertia characteristic that makes them different to bulk
power systems, where a large number of synchronous generators ensures a relatively large
inertia. Especially if there is a significant proportion of power electronic-interfaced DG units in
the microgrid, this phenomenon is more evident. The low inertia in the system can lead to
severe frequency deviations in island mode operation if a proper control mechanism is not
implemented.
• Uncertainty: Load profile and the weather are two of these uncertainties that make this
coordination more challenging in isolated microgrids, where the critical demand-supply
balance and typically higher component failure rates require solving a strongly coupled
problem over an extended time horizon.
 Modern power electronics arrangements in
EEN
• Increasing applications of Power Electronic Equipment in Power
Systems
– Availability of high power
semiconductor devices
– Decentralized renewable
energy generation sources
– Increased power transfer
with existing transmission
system
– Effective control of power
flow needed in a
relaxed environment
– Norms for Power quality

22
 Modern power electronics arrangements in EEN
• The use of Power Electronics (PE) arrangements in
EENs can be generally divided into:
– a ) electrical energy transmission system
– b ) electrical energy distribution system
The transmission system is composed basically of two
complementary technologies for controlling the
transmission of energy:
a ) with conversion to DC current (HVDC devices)
b ) directly – FACTS devices.
 HVDC
More economic > 100 km and power 200-900 MW
1) Sending and receiving end frequencies are
independent.
2) Transmission distance using dc is not affected by
cable charging current.
4) Power flow is fully defined and controllable.
5) Power losses are low due to reduced corona.
6) Power-transmission capability per conductor is
higher.
• Here, one should note that with HVDC devices the
entire energy from one system flows in to the other
through converters.
• As a result of this the cost is high, even in single
station installations.
• While in FACTS devices, only part of the power flows through the
power converter.
• FACTS is defined by the IEEE as "a power electronic based system and other static
equipment that provide control of one or more AC transmission system parameters to
enhance controllability and increase power transfer capability."
• A decidedly greater variety of PE arrangements occurs in distribution systems.
• On a farm as shown in Fig.1, having groups of turbines with squirrel cage induction
machines, the D-STATCOM (or SVC) supplies passive power to the machine and assists in
maintaining the voltage profile in the network.
• Unfortunately this farm does not lend itself to individual control of the turbine power or
control of the circulating power between turbines.

• Fig.2, since the DC link (AC-DC/DC-AC converter) allows the control of not only passive
power and network voltage profile, but also the direct control of active power supplied to
the network.
• Fig.3 enabling individual control of turbine power. The rectifier part of the heavy duty AC-
DC/DC-AC converter, Fig .2, is divided in to particular turbines, forming in this way an
internal DC network.
• it is noteworthy that matching turbines to a DC network is significantly easier than to an AC
network , because the DC network requires only one control parameter (amplitude ), while
the AC network requires as many as three ( amplitude, frequency and phase ).
• Fig. 4, or PMSM AC-DC/DC-AC converters for individual turbines can be equally justified in
cases of a very high power.
• PV systems are differentiated by three basic connection configurations, illustrated in Fig.11.
• The converter should be characterized by: very high efficiency and minimal size, increased
voltage cell and sinusoidal output voltage as well as the ability to work with parallel
connections.
• generally of greater power, an internal DC bus is frequently used.
 Network couplers and power quality improvement
devices.
• PE network couplers and energy quality improvement devices have many common
features with energy delivery control devices.
• The most universal couplers are “ back-to-back ” type devices, composed of two fully
controlled AC-DC and DC-AC converters (voltage or current), connected by a DC bus.
• The change in the working mode of the converter causes a change in the direction of the
power flow.
• In so doing , always only active power flows through the DC bus, which acts as a device
insensitive to frequency and phase differences in a coupled network .
• Modern PE arrangements serving to couple AC and or DC networks as-well as to match
distributed sources and energy storage already today enable the building of local micro-
networks as a part of a smart EEN.
• the micro-network structure shown in Fig.15, we gain a highly flexible integration of
distributed sources and the capability of “ plug-and-play ” type functions at every level,
without the necessity of implementing non-standard solutions.
• Active Power Filter (APF) devices, depending on the control algorithm, enable a
connection or selective compensation of all undesirable current components and or
voltage.
• In some cases, in order to achieve the required quality of EE, it is necessary to use series-
parallel APF devices (Fig.17).
• These devices, also called UPQC ( Unified Power Quality Conditioner) are in general
constructed as integrated P-APF and S-APF connections with a common DC bus.
• Dynamic voltage restoration devices ( DVR – Dynamic Voltage Restorer) are a certain kind of
active filter, somewhere between S-APF and UPQC.
• When there is a voltage disturbance in the power supply, the DVR device immediately
restores the correct voltage, ensuring the proper power supply to sensitive loads.
• Specifically, DVR enables compensation for voltage sags.