Cloud Computing Strategies for Enhancing Smart Grid Performance in Developing Countries

In developing countries, the awareness and development of Smart Grids are in the introductory stage and the full realisation needs more time and effort. Besides, the partially introduced Smart Grids are inefficient, unreliable, and environmentally unfriendly. As the global economy crucially depends on energy sustainability, there is a requirement to revamp the existing energy systems. Hence, this research work aims at cost-effective optimisation and communication strategies for enhancing Smart Grid performance on Cloud platforms

An Assessment of PIER Electric Grid Research 2003-2014 White Paper

This white paper describes the circumstances in California around the turn of the 21st century that led the California Energy Commission (CEC) to direct additional Public Interest Energy Research funds to address critical electric grid issues, especially those arising from integrating high penetrations of variable renewable generation with the electric grid. It contains an assessment of the beneficial science and technology advances of the resultant portfolio of electric grid research projects administered under the direction of the CEC by a competitively selected contractor, the University of California’s California Institute for Energy and the Environment, from 2003-2014

Distributed State Estimation With Phasor Measurement Units (Pmu) For Power Systems

Wide-area monitoring for the power system is a key tool for preventing the power system from system wide failure. State Estimation (SE) is an essential and practical monitoring tool that has been widely used to provide estimated values for each quantity within energy management systems (EMS) in the control center. However, monitoring larger power systems coordinated by regional transmission operators has placed an enormous operational burden on current SE techniques. A distributed state estimation (DSE) algorithm with a hierarchical structure designed for the power system industry is much more computationally efficient and robust especially for monitoring a wide-area power system. Moreover, considering the deregulation of the power system industry, this method does not require sensitive data exchange between smaller areas that may be competing entities. The use of phasor measurement units (PMUs) in the SE algorithm has proven to improve the performance in terms of accuracy and converging speed. Being able to synchronize the measurements between different areas, PMUs are perfectly suited for distributed state estimation. This dissertation investigates the benefits of the DSE using PMU over a serial state estimator in wide area monitoring. A new method has been developed using available PMU data to calculate the reference angle differences between decomposed power systems in various situations, such as when the specific PMU data of the global slack bus cannot be obtained. The algorithms were tested on six bus, I standard 30 bus and I 118-bus test cases. The proposed distributed state estimator has also been implemented in a test bed to work with a power system real-time digital simulator (RTDS) that simulates the physical power system. PMUs made by SEL and GE are used to provide real-time inputs to the distributed state estimator. Simulation results demonstrated the benefits of the PMU and distributed SE techniques. Additionally a constructed test bed verified and validated the proposed algorithms and can be used for different smart grid tests

Impacts of intermittent sources on the quality of power supply: The key role of reliability indicators

International audienceThe reliability of power supply, defined as the ability to recover a steady-state condition after a sudden disturbance, is crucial for operating power systems. It is usually ensured by controlling voltage and frequency deviations and involves events occurring from a few milliseconds to a few hours. However, reliability requirements are largely ignored when dealing with long-term issues. To reconcile such contrasting timescales, it seems logical to rely on energy considerations based on thermodynamics. Two reliability indicators, assessing the magnetic and kinetic energy reserves of a power system, are derived from this approach. They enable to quantify the reliability of a given production mix and make it possible to choose between increasing shares of intermittent sources and maintaining an expected level of reliability. Since the indicators tackle reliability issues without focusing on a specific timescale, they are effective for both discussing the long-term evolution of reliability and improving the real-time management of a power system

GNSS Related Threats to Power Grid Applications

As power grid environments are moving towards the smart grid vision of the future, the traditional schemes for power grid protection and control are making way for new applications. The advancements in this field have made the requirements for power grid’s time synchronization accuracy and precision considerably more demanding. So far, the signals provided by Global Navigation Satellite Systems have generally addressed the need for highly accurate and stable reference time in power grid applications. These signals however are highly susceptible to tampering as they are being transmitted. Since electrical power transmission and distribution are critical functions for any modern society, the risks and impacts affiliated with satellite-based time synchronization in power grids ought to be examined. This thesis aims to address the matter. The objective is to examine how Global Navigation Satellite Systems are utilized in the power grids, how different attacks would potentially be carried out by employing interference and disturbance to GNSS signals and receivers and how the potential threats can be mitigated. A major part of the research is done through literature review, and the core concepts and different implementations of Global Navigation Satellite Systems are firstly introduced. The literature review also involves the introduction of different power grid components and subsystems, that utilize Global Positioning System for time synchronization. Threat modeling techniques traditionally practiced in software development are applied to power grid components and subsystems to gain insight about the possible threats and their impacts. The threats recognized through this process are evaluated and potential techniques for mitigating the most notable threats are presented.Sähköverkot ovat siirtymässä kohti tulevaisuuden älykkäitä sähköverkkoja ja perinteiset sähköverkon suojaus- ja ohjausmenetelmät tekevät tilaa uusille sovelluksille. Alan kehitys on tehnyt aikasynkronoinnin tarkkuusvaatimuksista huomattavasti aikaisempaa vaativampia. Tarkka aikareferenssi sähköverkoissa on tähän saakka saavutettu satelliittinavigointijärjestelmien tarjoamien signaalien avulla. Nämä signaalit ovat kuitenkin erittäin alttiita erilaisille hyökkäyksille. Sähkönjakelujärjestelmät ovat kriittinen osa nykyaikaista yhteiskuntaa ja riskejä sekä seuraamuksia, jotka liittyvät satelliittipohjaisten aikasynkronointimenetelmien hyödyntämiseen sähköverkoissa, tulisi tarkastella. Tämä tutkielma pyrkii vastaamaan tähän tarpeeseen. Päämääränä on selvittää, miten satelliittinavigointijärjestelmiä hyödynnetään sähköverkoissa, kuinka erilaisia hyökkäyksiä voidaan toteuttaa satelliittisignaaleja häiritsemällä ja satelliittisignaalivastaanottimia harhauttamalla ja kuinka näiden muodostamia uhkia voidaan lieventää. Valtaosa tästä tutkimuksesta on toteutettu kirjallisuuskatselmoinnin pohjalta. Työ kattaa satelliittinavigointijärjestelmien perusteet ja esittelee erilaisia tapoja, kuinka satelliittisignaaleja hyödynnetään sähköverkoissa erityisesti aikasynkronoinnin näkökulmasta. Työssä hyödynnettiin perinteisesti ohjelmistokehityksessä käytettyjä uhkamallinnusmenetelmiä mahdollisten uhkien ja seurausten analysointiin. Lopputuloksena esitellään riskiarviot uhkamallinnuksen pohjalta tunnistetuista uhkista, sekä esitellään erilaisia menettelytapoja uhkien lieventämiseksi

Sometimes mathematics is different - studies on mathematical practices in electrical engineering

The six studies collected in this thesis deal with praxeological analyses of mathematical practices in a Signal Transmission module of an electrical engineering study programme. The research framework is the Anthropological Theory of the Didactic (ATD). Our analyses concern the introduction of the Dirac delta impulse in textbooks on signals and systems, the lecturer’s sample solution to an exercise on the envelope demodulator, and the lecturer’s sample solution and the students’ solutions to an exercise on amplitude modulation. Three research foci are developed in the collected studies. The first focus is The subject-specific reconstruction of mathematical practices (Hochmuth & Peters, 2021; Peters & Hochmuth, 2021). We analyse two exercises and the corresponding sample solutions given by the lecturer and students’ solutions. Based on methodological developments we were able to reconstruct aspects of two different mathematical discourses as well as how they interact within the analysed practices. We also propose a graphical representation of the results of our analyses. The second focus is The epistemological and philosophical relationship between mathematics and electrical engineering (Hochmuth & Peters, 2020, 2022). Our aim is to gain a better understanding of the mathematical practices involved in the introduction of the Dirac delta impulse in a textbook on signals and systems. We realised that certain mathematical steps could be better understood from an engineering point of view if historical-philosophical studies of the relationship between physics and mathematics were also taken into account. Here, we are not referring to the philosophical positions of students or lecturers. We are referring to philosophical studies that focus on the societal aspects that play a role in the historical concrete formation of practices. The case of the Dirac impulse is well suited to illustrate the fruitfulness of such studies for subject-specific analyses. Finally, the third focus is Revisiting the relationship between mathematics and electrical engineering, on how ideas for the development of teaching can be derived from the other two perspectives (Peters, 2022; Peters & Hochmuth, 2022). Looking back at our previous studies, we show how our research findings allow for a conceptualisation of the relationship between mathematics and engineering that differs from the standard application and modelling approaches. We also focus on the phenomenon of disconnectedness of the mathematical practices in mathematics service courses and engineering courses.Based on our analyses of engineering mathematical practices, we develop the idea of modifying exercises from a mathematics service course. The key feature of this approach is that it is an alternative to the usual approaches that propose the use of engineering application examples or the use of modelling tasks

The High-Speed Flywheel Energy Storage System

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Virtual Training Laboratory for Primary Impedance Metrology

This article presents the concept and some aspects of the physical implementation of a virtual training laboratory (VTL) in the field of primary impedance metrology. The creation of a VTL provides a novel method of disseminating metrological knowledge and expertise in a practical way and at a low cost. It will expose new users to the live experience of operating a digital impedance bridge thus helping to encourage the uptake of this novel and useful impedance measurement technology. The VTL was developed as part of the EMPIR projects VersICal 17RPT04, A versatile electrical impedance calibration laboratory based on digital impedance bridges, and GIQS 18SIB07, Graphene impedance quantum standard

Clean energy and environment: combating climate change by Hong Kong researchers and professionals

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Scenarios for the development of smart grids in the UK: literature review

Smart grids are expected to play a central role in any transition to a low-carbon energy future, and much research is currently underway on practically every area of smart grids. However, it is evident that even basic aspects such as theoretical and operational definitions, are yet to be agreed upon and be clearly defined. Some aspects (efficient management of supply, including intermittent supply, two-way communication between the producer and user of electricity, use of IT technology to respond to and manage demand, and ensuring safe and secure electricity distribution) are more commonly accepted than others (such as smart meters) in defining what comprises a smart grid. It is clear that smart grid developments enjoy political and financial support both at UK and EU levels, and from the majority of related industries. The reasons for this vary and include the hope that smart grids will facilitate the achievement of carbon reduction targets, create new employment opportunities, and reduce costs relevant to energy generation (fewer power stations) and distribution (fewer losses and better stability). However, smart grid development depends on additional factors, beyond the energy industry. These relate to issues of public acceptability of relevant technologies and associated risks (e.g. data safety, privacy, cyber security), pricing, competition, and regulation; implying the involvement of a wide range of players such as the industry, regulators and consumers. The above constitute a complex set of variables and actors, and interactions between them. In order to best explore ways of possible deployment of smart grids, the use of scenarios is most adequate, as they can incorporate several parameters and variables into a coherent storyline. Scenarios have been previously used in the context of smart grids, but have traditionally focused on factors such as economic growth or policy evolution. Important additional socio-technical aspects of smart grids emerge from the literature review in this report and therefore need to be incorporated in our scenarios. These can be grouped into four (interlinked) main categories: supply side aspects, demand side aspects, policy and regulation, and technical aspects.