Microgrids:experiences, barriers and success factors

Although microgrids have been researched for over a decade and recognized for their multitude of benefits to improve power reliability, security, sustainability, and decrease power costs for the consumer, they have still not reached rapid commercial growth. The main aim of this research is to identify the common barriers and ultimate success factors to implementing a microgrid in the real world. We found that microgrids vary significantly depending on location, components, and optimization goals, which cause them to experience different types of challenges and barriers. However, the most common barriers were identified and grouped into four categories: technical, regulatory, financial, and stakeholder, based on the literature and overlying patterns recognized amongst the thirteen case studies. The most common technical barriers include problems with technology components, dual-mode switching from grid-connected to island mode, power quality and control, and protection issues. There is extensive research on how to overcome these issues, so technical solutions are becoming available yet case specific. Regulatory barriers exist due to interconnection rules with the main grid and the prohibition of bi-directional power flow and local power trading between microgrid and the main network. The latter issue is the barrier experienced most often and has only recently been addressed, so solutions need further research. The main financial barrier is still the burden of high investment and replacement costs of the microgrid. This can be resolved with proper market support in the short term and might naturally resolve itself through learning over the long run. Lastly, stakeholder barriers include issues with conflicting self-interest and trust, and having the expertise to manage operations. These stakeholder barriers are not yet addressed in the literature and need to be further researched

Purely ornamental? Public perceptions of distributed energy storage in the United Kingdom

Distributed energy storage technologies (DES) are expected to help in decarbonising the power sector, decentralising power sources and meeting the mismatch between the produced and consumed energy. However, the likelihood of the use and acceptance of these technologies will partly hinge on public perceptions. Here, we present results of three focus groups and dialogue from the city of Leeds (UK) held with members the lay public with and without personal experience of technology (photovoltaic panels) about public perceptions of distributed energy storage technologies at household and community scale. We apply and adapt the Energy Cultures framework, which was initially developed for understanding energy behaviours as mediated by individual psychological factors, by practice-based, energy-related culture and infrastructural elements. Accordingly, we connect what people think, do and have in energy contexts, to better understand perceptions of DES technologies as part of a broader renewable energy landscape (culture) that is both materially and socially constructed. We show how a variety of elements such as forms of energy consumption; costs; expectations of family members; previous experiences; perceptions of government and the municipal authority; and expectations about the technologies, are likely to shape acceptance and adoption of battery storage at the household and community level

Making Compatible Energy Planning with Urban Decision-Making: Socio-Energy Nodes and Local Configuration

International audienceThis chapter develops a specific concept, the socio-energy node (SEN), to helpunderstand energy assemblages in urban spaces. The SEN concept broadens the scope of planning tourban-energy interaction, the better to understand three main points. First, it informs questions abouthow to upgrade large energy networks and hybridize them with self-sufficient energy loops. Second, itreveals elements of energy socio-technical regimes that stimulate or hamper urban energy transition.Lastly, it aims to provide support for energy planners when modelling multi-actor energy systems. Wetherefore emphasize the importance of qualifying relationships between energy and urban-planningstakeholders and propose a method for implementing – and reconsidering – energy planning in cities,by breaking energy systems down into SENs and by studying how they “plug into" geographicconfigurations

Application of a microgrid with renewables for a water treatment plant

This research explores the techno-economic potential for a predominantly renewable electricity-based microgrid serving an industrial-sized drink water plant in the Netherlands. Grid-connected and stand-alone microgrid scenarios were modeled, utilizing measured wind speed and solar irradiation data, real time manufacturer data for technology components, and a bottom-up approach to model a flexible demand from demand response. The modeled results show that there is a very high potential for renewable electricity at the site, which can make this drink water treatment plant's electricity consumption between 70% and 96% self-sufficient with renewable electricity from solar PV and wind power production. The results show that wind production potential is very high onsite and can meet 82% of onsite demand without adding solar PV. However, PV production potential is also substantial and provides a more balanced supply which can supply electricity at times when wind production is insufficient. Due to the supplemental supply over different parts of the day, adding solar PV also increases the benefits gained from the demand response strategy. Therefore, a solar-wind system combination is recommended over a wind only system. A 100% renewable system would require extremely large battery storage, which is not currently cost effective. Ultimately, even at the low wholesale electricity and sell-back price for large electricity consumers, grid-connection and the ability to trade excess electricity is extremely important for the cost-effectiveness of a microgrid system

Microgrids: Experiences, barriers and success factors

Although microgrids have been researched for over a decade and recognized for their multitude of benefits to improve power reliability, security, sustainability, and decrease power costs for the consumer, they have still not reached rapid commercial growth. The main aim of this research is to identify the common barriers and ultimate success factors to implementing a microgrid in the real world. We found that microgrids vary significantly depending on location, components, and optimization goals, which cause them to experience different types of challenges and barriers. However, the most common barriers were identified and grouped into four categories: technical, regulatory, financial, and stakeholder, based on the literature and overlying patterns recognized amongst the thirteen case studies. The most common technical barriers include problems with technology components, dual-mode switching from grid-connected to island mode, power quality and control, and protection issues. There is extensive research on how to overcome these issues, so technical solutions are becoming available yet case specific. Regulatory barriers exist due to interconnection rules with the main grid and the prohibition of bi-directional power flow and local power trading between microgrid and the main network. The latter issue is the barrier experienced most often and has only recently been addressed, so solutions need further research. The main financial barrier is still the burden of high investment and replacement costs of the microgrid. This can be resolved with proper market support in the short term and might naturally resolve itself through learning over the long run. Lastly, stakeholder barriers include issues with conflicting self-interest and trust, and having the expertise to manage operations. These stakeholder barriers are not yet addressed in the literature and need to be further researched

Effect of Buffer Composition on Conformational Flexibility of N-Terminal Fragments of Dps and the Nature of Interactions with DNA. Small-Angle X-Ray Scattering Study

The DNA-binding protein Dps plays a key role in the formation of Dps–DNA crystalline arrays in living bacterial cells, which allows bacteria to survive under stress conditions and under the influence of various adverse factors. Such genome-protective mechanisms can lead to the emergence of bacterial resistance to antibiotics and other drugs. Elucidation of the fundamental biochemical, genetic, and structural basis of the resistance is of primary importance for the development of strategies for combating and preventing bacterial resistance, as well as the elaboration of innovative therapeutic approaches. Conformational characteristics of Dps and its N-terminal fragments responsible for the nature of interactions of this protein with DNA in solution were studied by small-angle scattering

Formation of High-Order Structures in Solution by CBS-Pyrophosphatase from D. hafniense

To solve the question about the oligomeric state of wild-type CBS-pyrophosphatase (CBS-PPase) from D. hafniense, this enzyme has been studied using two independent structural methods: small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) and cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryoTEM). The formation of stable high-order structures (large helical associates) in a concentrated protein solution has been observed for the first time. It is also shown for the first time that the formation of these structures is a reversible process and the protein passes to the tetramer form (in which it usually exists in diluted solutions) at ligand attachment. The obtained results are important for understanding the functional features of CBS-PPase (in particular, gaining insight into the pathogenesis of some diseases)