Smart Grids – the vision of the electricity networks of the future

Smart Grids – the vision of the electricity networks of the future

The countries of the European Community strongly support the growth of renewable energy sources for better environmental protection, for sustainable energy supply through saving fossil primary energy and to lower the dependency on imports of primary energy. In the next years more and more Gigawatts (GW) of wind and solar energy will be fed into the electricity networks. Today's networks are not dimensioned for this. Furthermore, a large number of small power producers in the household and the charging of millions of electro-mobiles pose new challenges for the electricity networks.

All these challenges can only be met by Smart Grids. The problem is that each consumer can demand electricity whenever it is desired. In this way a permanent change of demand happens with a peak in Germany of about 80 GW in day time and a weak load of about 30 GW in the night. At each moment, electricity should be produced in accordance with the demand. But wind and solar power plants feed in accordingly their availability. They cannot be controlled like a traditional power station. To solve these problems a Smart Grid is defined as follows (see www.smartgrids.eu ):

A SmartGrid is an electricity network that can intelligently integrate the actions of all users connected to it - generators, consumers and those that do both - in order to efficiently deliver sustainable, economic and secure electricity supplies.

Smart Grids require a broad linking of its users via advanced information and communication technologies to achieve an intelligent coordination and market participation. In the distribution level through such linking can be achieved:

Offering variable tariffs following the energy prices on the market. Energy prices are high at times of heavy demand and they are lower in weak load time. The consumer can monitor his demand and the related costs. This gives him an incentive to move the heavy demand of non-time critical functions like washer, dryer or air conditioner into the time with lower tariff – maybe by using the home automation technologies. Consequently, the consumer participates in the energy market and he can help to decrease the peak load.

A large number of small power producers, storage and controllable loads (industry) can be coordinated in such a way that their overall generation will follow a schedule, that fluctuations of wind power may be compensated and that a virtual power plant is build which operates with behaviors like a traditional power plant.

Through automation and remote control it will be possible to remotely switch MV (medium voltage) terminals in the case of disturbances with supply interruption within minutes for supply recovery. The former manual switching took in the average 1 hour. In this way the possible supply interruptions can be shorted significantly.
Smart Grids are needed to meet the challenges of the future. However, they offer benefits for all grid users like consumers, producers, network operators and traders as well.

Background for all Working Groups In September 2015, the European Commission issued the SET-Plan Communication1 , addressing innovation in the context of the strategy of the Energy Union. Among the priorities highlighted, of particular interest for the energy networks community is the priority "Number 4 – Increase the resilience, security, smartness of the energy system" 2 . The European Technology and Innovation Platform for Smart Networks for the Energy Transition (ETIP SNET) was set-up to reflect the increasing need to consider the smart grids as an integral part of the energy system. The mission of the Platform is to guide research and innovation activities to support Europe's energy transition. The ETIP SNET will elaborate a vision and a Roadmap for R&I activities (and the associated Implementation Plans) for smart networks, storage and other sources of flexibility, and integrated energy systems, engaging all stakeholders. It will also look at customer participation and the impact of digitisation. It will identify innovation barriers, notably related to market design, regulation and financing. A number of permanent Working Groups and a Member States/Regulators Group were set up in the ETIP SNET to ensure the involvement and contribution of all the stakeholders of the energy system as a whole, providing vision, inputs, guidance and continuous feedback for the development of the integrated R&I Roadmap. The Working Groups are set up to ensure the most adequate balance between the effectiveness of their work on the planned deliverables and the openness towards new subjects and new issues which may appear. The following Working Groups are established:

 WG1: Reliable, economic and efficient smart grid system  WG2: Storage technologies and sector interfaces  WG3: Flexible Generation  WG4: Digitalisation of the electricity system and Customer participation  WG5: Innovation implementation in the business environment  WG6: National Stakeholders Coordination Group WG1 to WG4 are dedicated to the different aspects of development of the energy system along its different main development paths, while WG5 is more focussed on technology transfer, application and market uptake. The WG6 National Stakeholders Coordination Group, involves Governments and Regulators to ensure that the all ETIP outcomes optimally complement national conditions and innovation directions, and to facilitate the uptake of ETIP outcomes into local/national policy. The following figure illustrates the main fields of activities of WG1 to WG4: Domain Working groups System WG1: Reliable, economic and efficient smart grid system Technology WG2: Storage technologies and sector interfaces WG3: Flexible Generation WG4: Digitalisation of the electricity system and Customer participation Market Society 1 Towards an Integrated Strategic Energy Technology (ISET)

Source : www. smartgrids.eu.