A National Workshop
on
“A Multi Dimensional Smart Energy Grids Analysis for Indian Scenario”
IIT, MANDI
8th-10th June, 2017
Dr. Deepika Yadav (Associate Professor, Electrical & Electronics Engineering Department) from Dronacharya College of Engineering, Gurgaon attended 3-days national workshop on “A Multi Dimensional Smart Energy Grids Analysis for Indian Scenario” organized at IIT, Mandi, Kamand from 8th -10th June, 2017.
The main objective of the workshop was to facilitate the forum to discuss the various low carbon energy sources in a multi-dimensional Smart Energy Grids and methodologies to achieve a more efficient and environmentally friendly grid operation. The various issues, problems and challenges in terms of operation, management and control of Smart Grid have been described in details. The present scenario of power system is changing very rapidly due to the new technological developments and formulation of new regulatory polices of governments. With a wide range of leading researchers from around the country, the workshop results in a well-defined road-map for the development and deployment of Smart Grid in India. The workshop was financially supported by IIT Mandi, DST-SERI and DSTSERB.
The national workshop was specially designed on “A Multi Dimensional Smart Energy Grids Analysis for Indian Scenario”. The following contents were explored:
- Future Power Systems: Adapting to Future Challenges
- Power Management and Control of DC Microgrids
- Renewable Grid Integration Challenges: PQ Perspective
- RTDS: Hands on Lab. Session
- Smart Multi-Terminal DC μ-Grid Control and Operation
- Role of Forecasting in Power System Operation
- Communication Architecture for Smart Grid
- Internet of Things – Basics
- Smart Grid Developments in India: Path towards efficient and environmentally sustainable electricity access
- Integrating Distributed Renewables and Energy Storage in Distribution Network
- Climate Change & Solar Photovoltaic
Day 1: 8th June 2017
The workshop was inaugurated by Prof. Timothy Gonsalves, Director, IIT Mandi. In his inaugural address, Prof. Gonsalves highlighted the accomplishment and research activities of IIT Mandi. He emphasized the relevance of the timely workshop by which different groups of society can come together to solve the challenges of security, stability and reliability for a sustainable energy sector using Smart Grid technologies.
The first session was on “Power Management and Control of DC Microgrids” by, Prof. K. N. Srivastava, ABB Sweden.
In his presentation he briefly discussed various challenges faced by power system scenario of India such as: Fossil fuel deadlock, climatic change threat, global negotiation, nuclear issues, climatic change and Security of supply, energy efficiency etc. Also, the power market in India is characterized with poor demand side management (DSM) and consequences on technical and non-technical aspects with response to lack of proper infrastructure and awareness. In order to mitigate these preventable challenges, the innovative power system architecture with incorporation of renewable energy sources (RES) can acknowledge reduction in line losses to overcome prevailing power shortages, improve the reliability of supply, power quality improvement and its management, safeguarding revenues, preventing theft etc.
Further, in his presentation he briefly discussed about smart grids, micro grids and nano grids. One way to define Smart grid as per “European Smart Grids ETP” defines the smart grids as “electricity networks that can intelligently integrate the behaviour and 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”. In developed as well as developing nations smart grid technologies are being implemented in order to improve the grid’s efficiency and to integrate renewable energy resources into the grid.
The second session was on “Renewable Grid Integration Challenges: PQ Perspective” by, Dr Narsa Reddy, Assistant Professor, School of Computing and Electrical Engineering (SCEE) from IIT Mandi.
He emphasised on increasing efficiency of power electronic converters which will be used in smart grid later on, such as inverters and rectifiers along with its waveform.
Participants are also given hands on lab. session by Research Scholar on “Real Time Digital Simulator (RTDS) on Power system” RTDS: The real time digital simulation lab is setup to perform development, validation and testing operations for the various power and control models and the hardware equipments. In the lab, the RTDS has been integrated with the hardware equipments such as amplifiers, relays, converters, electric drives, etc. The real time digital simulation facility is equipped with 1 racks of Real Time Digital Simulator (RTDS) System procured from RTDS Technologies, Canada. Each rack of RTDS consists of a number of parallel processing cards, including cards for running the simulation as well as inter-rack communications (IRC), workstation interface (WIF) and the I/O cards. The PB5 processor card is the latest generation of processor card developed for RTDS. Each PB5 has two Power PC. RISC processors operating at a clock frequency of 1.7GHz. The PB5 has eight Gigabyte Trans receiver (GT) fibre ports. Two GT ports are reserved for connecting to the I/O and the other six ports can be used to communicate directly to other PB5 cards. The increased number of ports simplifies the modeling of large scale systems using timestamp sub-networks.
Day 2: 9th June 2017
The first session was on “Role of Forecasting in Power System Operation” by Prof S N Singh, Vice-Chancellor, Madan Mohan Malviya University of Technology Gorakhpur. In his presentation, he laid emphasis on, the digital centric control (DCC) which computes the need for power and from where to procure it based on price, reliability and grid situational awareness. DCC also scrutinizes cyber security, distributed information management, process automation and advanced resource forecasting for smart and reliable operation of a grid.
This was followed by session on “Internet of Things – Basics” by Prof. Y. N. Singh from IIT Kanpur. The Internet of things (IoT) is the inter-networking of physical devices, vehicles (also referred to as connected devices and smart devices), buildings, and other items embedded with electronics, software, sensors, actuators, and network connectivity which enable these objects to collect and exchange data. The IoT allows objects to be sensed or controlled remotely across existing network infrastructure creating opportunities for more direct integration of the physical world into computer-based systems, and resulting in improved efficiency, accuracy and economic benefit in addition to reduced human intervention
The second Session was on “Communication Architecture for Smart Grid by Dr. Samar Agnihotri , Assistant Professor at IIT Mandi. In his talk he described “Two-way” flows of electricity and information laid the infrastructure foundation for the smart grid. Smart communication subsystem or the ICT are a dynamic sector of the Smart Grid infrastructure. The infrastructure mainly visualizes the communication pattern in two conduits viz. sensor and electrical appliance to smart meters, moreover between smart meters and utility data center. The communication infrastructure between energy generation, transmission, and distribution and utilization requires two-way communications; interoperability between advanced applications and end-to-end reliable and secure communication with low-latencies and sufficient bandwidth. Along with advancement of system security and robustness towards cyber-attacks which provides system stability and reliability with advanced control adds to its essentials. Followed by lab session on RTDS.
Day 3:10th June 2017
First session was on Smart Grid Developments in India: Path towards efficient and environmentally sustainable electricity access by Dr. Naran M. Pindoriya, Assistant Professor, IIT Gandhinagar. He briefly described an elegant perception of “Super Smart Grid (SSG)”, a hypothetical wide area network of electric power with the unification of various national grids and renewable sources initiated in the European countries including the Northern Africa, Middle East, Turkey and the IPS/UPS system of Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries. It initiates a large scale utilization of alternative energy.
Second session was on Integrating Distributed Renewables and Energy Storage in Distribution Network by Dr. Naran M. Pindoriya, Assistant Professor, Electrical Engineering, IIT Gandhinagar. In his talk he discussed vision of India towards Smart Grid Technology. He further, explained as India is struggling to meet its electricity demands, both in terms of Energy and Peak Load, Smart Grids can help better manage the shortage of power and optimize the power grid status in the country. A “Smart Grid” is a perception of remodelling the scenario of the nation’s electric power grid, by the convergence of information and operational technology applied to electrical grid, allowing sustainable option to the customers and upgraded security, reliability and efficiency to utilities. The elite vision of Smart Grid (SG) Technology allows energy to be generated, transmitted, distributed and utilized more effectively and efficiently.
Last session of the national workshop was on “Climate Change & Solar Photovoltaic” by Prof. Ramesh Oruganti, Visiting Professor, School of Computing and Electrical Engineering, IIT Mandi. He explained that there was enough solar radiation available all over the world to satisfy a vastly increased demand for solar power systems. The overall efficiency of the conversion of solar power into usable electrical energy by the PV power system, comprising PV arrays, converters, cable connections, etc., is quite low (<6%). Because of the specific nature of its I-V characteristics, the output power is maximized at a specific load for a given level of solar insolation and cell temperature.
The workshop provides insight into the future electricity networks and its potential issues which demand researcher to look beyond the existing research frontiers irrespective of the disciplinary boundaries. The workshop was dedicated on discussion of the future development of smarter architecture and its intelligent applications/solutions is the key research point to provide the critical importance to economic and social welfare into future smarter grids networks.