Review paper: interconnected micro energy grids

摘要

In recent years, there has been a global movement in the direction of adoption and deployment of distributed and renewable resources. Renewable energy (RE) sources differ from conventional sources in that, generally they cannot be scheduled, they are much smaller than conventional power stations and are often connected to the electricity distribution system rather than the transmission system. Smart energy grid (SEG) infrastructures will enable efficient bidirectional energy supply chains. SEG can provide distributed energy generation of electricity, thermal, and gas, that are interconnected with storage and loads. SEG includes hierarchical infrastructures with small energy grid called micro energy grids (MEGs). Interconnected MEG can provide higher performance by exchanging excess energy from one MEG to another based on local generation and loads. Interconnected MEG can allow scalable superstructure to cover energy demand and needs in local regions. To evaluate different design and operation scenarios of such dynamic superstructures of interconnected MEG, local and global performance indicators are proposed to evaluate these scenarios. Intelligent optimisation techniques are employed to identify potential scenarios of MEG design, control, and operation. Intelligent modelling and simulation tool is proposed with distributed decision-making capabilities to manage the data gathering and analysis functions and map to static and dynamic models of SEG components. As SEG is a multi-player domain, this requires collaborative decision-making and control with distributed knowledgebase to support different views. In addition, it is important to support the automatic and dynamic identification and evaluation of control and protection boundaries and operational scenarios of MEGs. Practical business models are essential to support the practical implementation of MEG and deployment of interconnected MEGs. The proposed automated MEG engineering tools will enable energy providers and utilities to negotiate profitable solutions of SEG that meet energy suppliers, end-users, technology providers, and government/regulators to achieve suitable solutions with local and global optimisation with proven low carbon and improved efficiency and reliability of the target SEG with interconnected-MEGs superstructures.