Reconfigurable Distribution Networks

“智能电网”的概念已从工程界的初步讨论发展到更广泛的公众竞技场，因为其对确保未来电力供应和促进电力脱碳的重要性已得到认可。到目前为止，智能电网的大部分争论都集中在“智能家居”或“智能电器”的客户身上，他们通过对可再生能源价格或可用性信号的反应来管理电力系统。在幕后，还有一个关于现有发电厂和设备的新控制方法如何使电网能够提供纳入低碳能源所需的灵活性的平行辩论。这一提议将智能电网的辩论从两个方向扩展。第一，发展中国家的大量人口遭受断断续续的电力供应之苦。供应公司使用“轮流断电”计划来定量供应某些地区有限的能源。比如说，每天只有4小时的电力供应对教育、医疗保健和经济发展产生了不利影响。在这方面，能够利用当地太阳能或微型水力能源“离网”运行的“微型电网”很有意义。我们在这里的建议是设计“开-关电网”，其中供应公司调整他们的轮值断开占本地资源的微电网和微电网配置有电力电子接口，可以管理电网和离网操作之间的频繁转换。印度的联盟成员将建立这种微电网的示范版本，以探索和评估控制和优化想法。储能技术的使用将是这一计划的关键部分。第二，发达国家除非在紧急情况下，否则不会遭受轮流断电。然而，其现有配电网络的安全性和充足性可能会因在家庭层面注入大量太阳能以及电动汽车充电的预期重载而受到影响。在这里，我们建议开发电力电子设备，使网络中的可能的供应路线的快速重新配置，以优化功率流和电压水平。问题不在于电力电子设备能否实现这一点（我们相信他们可以），而在于如何有效地实现这一点并保持良好的设备寿命。该联盟的英国成员将设计、建造和测试新形式的“软啮合”电力电子设备，以满足这些目标。“可重构配电网”在印度和英国都提供了巨大的机会。它还在许多方面提出了研究挑战：电力电子设备的创新，以减少功率损耗并延长寿命;需要设计新的控制算法，以利用新的灵活设备，使消费者和网络运营商受益，以及需要创建新的优化和规划工具，以指示新设备应该部署在哪里，并确定其业务案例的可靠性。

The "SmartGrid" is a concept that has emerged from its initial discussion in engineering circles into the wider public arena because its importance has been recognised for securing future electricity supply and facilitating the de-carbonisation of electricity. Much of the SmartGrid debate has so far focused customers with "smart homes" or "smart appliances" being engaged in managing the electricity system through their reactions to signals about price or availability of renewable energy. Behind the scenes, there is a parallel debate about how new control methods for existing electricity plant and equipment may enable electricity networks to offer the flexibility needed to incorporate low-carbon energy sources. This proposal expands the SmartGrid debate in two directions. First, large numbers of people in developing countries suffer from an intermittent electricity supply. The supply companies use "rota disconnection" schemes to ration the limited energy available in some regions. Having electricity for, say, just 4 hours a day adversely impacts education, health care and economic development. "Micro-grids" able to run "off-gird" with local solar or micro-hydro energy are interesting in this context. Our proposal here is to design "on-off grids" in which supply companies adjust their rota disconnection to account for local resources in the micro-grids and the micro-grids are configured with power electronic interfaces that can manage the frequent transitions between on-grid and off-gird operation. The consortium members in India will build a demonstration version of such a micro-grid to allow control and optimisation ideas to be explored and assessed. The use of energy storage technology will be a key part of this scheme.Second, developed countries do not suffer rota-disconnections except in emergencies. However, the security and adequacy of their existing electricity distribution networks may become compromised by the injection of significant amounts of solar energy at household level and the heavy loading anticipated from electric vehicle charging. Here we propose to develop power electronic equipment that enables the rapid reconfiguration of the possible supply routes in a network in order to optimise the power flows and voltage levels. The questions are not so much on can power electronic devices achieve this (we are confident they can) but rather how is it achieved efficiently and with a good equipment lifetime. The UK members of the consortium will design, build and test new forms of "soft meshing" power electronics to meet these objectives.The "reconfigurable distribution network" presents a great opportunity in both the Indian and UK context. It also present research challenges on a number of fronts: innovation in power electronic equipment to reduce power losses and increase lifetime; the need to design new control algorithms to exploit the new flexible equipment to the benefit of consumers and network operators and the need to create new optimisation and planning tools to indicate where exactly the new equipment should be deployed and to determine how robust its business case can be.