Micro Grids

Gudrun talks with the Scotish engineer Claire Harvey. After
already having finished a Master's degree in Product design
engineering at the University of Glasgow for the last two years
Claire has been a student of the Energy Technologies (ENTECH)
Master program. This is an international and interdisciplinary
program under the label of the European Institute of Innovation
and Technology (EIT) inbetween a number of European technical
universities. She spent her first year in Lisbon at Instituto
Superior Técnico (IST) and the second master year at the
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT). Gudrun had the role of
her supervisor at KIT while she worked on her Master's thesis at
the EUREF Campus in Berlin for the Startup inno2grid.


Her study courses prepared her for very diverse work in the
sector of renewable energy. Her decision to work with inno2grid
in Berlin was based on the fact, that it would help to pave the
way towards better solutions for planning micro grids and
sustainable districts. Also, she wanted to see an actual micro
grid at work. The office building of Schneider Electric, where
the Startup inno2grid has its rooms is an experiment delivering
data of energy production and consumption while being a usual
office building. We will hear more about that in the episode with
Carlos Mauricio Rojas La Rotta soon.


Micro grids are small scale electrical grid systems where
self-sufficient supply is achieved. Therefore, the integration of
micro grid design within district planning processes should be
developed efficiently. In the planning process of districts with
decentralised energy systems, unique and customised design of
micro grids is usually required to meet local technical,
economical and environmental needs. From a technical standpoint,
a detailed understanding of factors such as load use, generation
potential and site constraints are needed to correctly and most
efficiently design and implement the network. The presence of
many different actors and stakeholders contribute to the
complexity of the planning process, where varying levels of
technical experience and disparate methods of working across
teams is commonplace.


Large quantities of digital information are required across the
whole life-cycle of a planning project, not just to do with
energetic planning but also for asset management and monitoring
after a micro grid has been implemented. In the design of micro
grids, large amounts of data must be gathered, there are initial
optimization objectives to be met, and simulating control
strategies of a district which are adapted to customer
requirements is a critical step. Linking these processes - being
able to assemble data as well as communicate the results and
interactions of different "layers" of a project to stakeholders
are challenges that arise as more cross-sector projects are
carried out, with the growing interest in smart grid
implementation.


Claire's thesis explores tools to assist the planning process for
micro grids on the district scale. Using geographical information
system (GIS) software, results relating to the energetic planning
of a district is linked to geo-referenced data. Layers related to
energy planning are implemented - calculating useful parameters
and connecting to a database where different stakeholders within
a project can contribute. Resource potential, electrical/thermal
demand and supply system dimensioning can be calculated, which is
beneficial for clients and decision makers to visualize digital
information related to a project. Within the open source program
QGIS, spatial analysis and optimizations relating to the design
of an energy system are performed. As the time dimension is a key
part in the planning of the energy supply system of a micro grid,
the data is linked to a Python simulation environment where
dynamic analysis can be performed, and the results are fed back
in to the QGIS project.


References

T. Benz et al.: Der Zellulare Ansatz. VDE, Energietechnische
Gesellschaft, Frankfurt, Germany, 2015.

A. Halu et al.: Data-driven modeling of solar-powered urban
microgrids. Science Advances 2 (1). DOI:10.1126/sciadv.1500700,
2016.

M. Giudice and E. Patti: BIM and GIS for District Modelling
Politecnico di Torino, Turin, Italy, 2014.

QGIS

Ch. Nytsch-Geusen et al.: Sustainable and energy-efficient
redevelopment of city quarters - Analytical and planning tools
for energy assessment and rehabilitation of urban districts.
Universität der Künste, Berlin, 2015.



Podcasts

Z. Ahamed, G. Thäter: Electric Vehicles on the Grid, Gespräch
im Modellansatz Podcast, Folge 183, Fakultät für Mathematik,
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), 2018.

G. Thäter, M. J. Amtenbrink: Wasserstofftankstellen, Gespräch
im Modellansatz Podcast, Folge 163, Fakultät für Mathematik,
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), 2018.

G. Thäter, B. Pousinho: Weather Generator, Gespräch im
Modellansatz Podcast, Folge 148, Fakultät für Mathematik,
Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT), 2017.