Introduction

Microgrid is a next-gen concept concerned with the generation of power that we need in everyday routine. This concept presumes a bunch of loads and micro resources as an only one administrable system providing heat and power to its local region. As far as the microgrid design is concerned, it is much diverse and consists of numerous major elements for successful operation. Any typical microgrid might contain major elements like load, electronic circuitries, and power sources.

The microgrids are seen utilized to generate electric power using the novel energy resources like solar, wind, fuel cells, etc. These several electric power production sources have the potential to segregate the microgrid from a bigger network and might be able to offer a much dependable electric power supply. Heat that gets generated from production assets like microturbines can serve space heating or local operation hearing, permitting flexible allowance between the requirements for electric power and heat.

Microgrid is the heart of many renewable energy projects, which is true for final year renewable energy projects as well. Microgrids and its integration will be discussed in detail in this article along with top 40+ renewable energy projects ideas.

Importance of Microgrids

Microgrids might be a forthcoming structure that can readily redress technical issues associated with essentially expanding deployment of renewable resources by techs of distributed power production for fulfilling the raising necessities of power quality and dependability. This microgrid is installed in distribution frameworks like client industrial or commercial infrastructures and small-scaled integrated power and heat infrastructures. Several advanced controls are incorporated in these infrastructures to empower them to work with a level of automation surpassing the conventional microgrid. The expanding necessities for the energy offering offered by electricity will be fulfilled with the utilization of a blend of techs, methodologies, and solutions. Assessment of the electricity demand creeping issue exhibits that microgrids are much suitable to take a vital part in the upcoming revolution of energy service delivery.

Check: Microgrid Projects

Selecting and optimizing Renewable Energy Resources

When it comes to the power production through renewable energy resources, the most significant step in it is the appropriate selection of the resources. This selection of renewable energy resources for power production relies mainly on the factors like environment chosen for deployment and location. Much readily used renewable energy resources include the three resources like fuel cell, wind, and solar. For optimizing power production using renewable energy resources, efficient monitoring and effective energy storage facilities are required. For serving the evolutions taking place in the arena of Information and Technology, the requirement for handling DC loads is ever increasing and thereby, the selection and optimization of renewable energy projects and microgrids have become indispensable.

Also Read: Wind Renewable Energy Projects

Renewable Energy Techs to be considered for successful integration

Renewable resource to- grid integration is concerned with the construction of microgrids along with wind, solar, and storage facilities in rural regions or for isolate from the major grid once the interruption happens. This integration can be successful only with the inclusion of certain state-of-the-art techs, which have been mentioned below.

Fuel Cells

Several fuel cell techs have already been utilized or being developed for producing power. The major attractiveness towards the fuel cell is its capability to efficiently convert and acquire electrical power in the absence of heat retrieval. Generally, the related tech incorporated in microgrid is the fuel cell powered with phosphoric acid. Additionally, a few other cells with composition like solid oxide, molten carbonate, proton exchange membrane are also found incorporated in microgrid.

Microturbines

Microturbines are usually built was major components like smaller gas-operated turbine placed over only one shaft along with a generator. These microturbines are available in wide range of sizes from 30 kW to 100 kW and they can give rise to around 30 % efficiency. Integrated power and heat process has the potential to raise the net system efficiency to around 70 % to 80 %. Microturbines along with the integrated power and heat processes can produce on-site power at prices in a competitive fashion.

Photovoltaic Cells

Photovoltaic tools are found deployed for numerous of years since its initial usage by space programs at United States. These tools depend upon sunrays for generating DC voltage at terminals of cell. The quantity of current and voltage that these photovoltaic tools can generate relies on the quantity of sunrays captured and the cell layout. Systems using photovoltaic techs utilize cell arrays that can be stationary or trace the sun for acquiring supplementary energy. Individually deployed systems often need storage facility for accommodating available sunrays for excessive power necessities. Photovoltaic structures are known to work with quietness, nil emissions, and increased reliability.

Wind Turbines

Commercial production of power using the wind resource is already in practice in the past few years. The majority of power supply is being acquired from the wind farms, which comprises diverse varieties of wind turbines ranging from 700 kW to 1.5 MW. These wind turbines commonly utilize an induction generator powered by a rotor (containing blades). During the stand-alone operation of these turbines, the storage systems or related production systems need to supply the excessive power necessity than retained wind resource.

Solar Thermal

Sterling dish is the major tech for small-scaled production techs in the solar thermal sector. This kind of tech is currently investigated in the range between 10 kW and 25 kW. In this structure, an array of mirrors tracking sunrays is used for concentrating the light onto a smaller receiver. The heat acquired by the receiver is passed on to the hot side of a sterling engine. This engine consumes working fluid in an enclosed revolution with the aim of pushing pistons and rotating the shaft. The revolution of shaft is utilized to spin an induction generator, which is in turn linked onto the electric grid in case of sterling dish.

Major elements of typical Microgrid and its operation

The major elements that any typical microgrid comprise are as follows:

Fuel cell
Solar cell
Wind energy systems
Mini-hydro systems
Energy storage systems

More than often, the above-said elements need to be integrated in a typical microgrid structure to serve diverse needs like storage of energy; production of electricity; and accomplishing the normal operation of load with the connection to a macro grid. Generally, a microgrid works in 2 operations, namely, stand-alone operation and grid connected operation. It is much favorable to witness the microgrid operating in either major grid disconnection mode or stand-alone mode. Subsequently, it is possible for the microgrid to operate automatically. Loads and production in it are commonly interlinked at reduced level of voltage. However, the major challenge lies in advanced microgrid operations (opposite to the singular controlling in the past), wherein several counts of power systems that are connected to it can be handled wiser only if the operator is wise enough.

Advantages of microgrids

The deployment of microgrids can give rise to certain advantages, which are as follows:

It has the potential to customize the power quality delivered to fulfill the necessities of every application.
It can impart flexibility to the system supplying power.
A much beneficious environment microgrids eventually yields out energy efficacy and thereby draws small-scaled renewable production investments.

Known challenges in the integration of Microgrids

In this section, a few challenges encountered in the integration of microgrids in case of renewable energy projects are listed below.

Losses are known to occur in any power production systems involving microgrids because of many technical constraints including its location. The computation of losses is also dependent on such technical constraints, based on which optimizations and enhancements need to be made.
The degradation of power factor cannot be prevented due to the out of phase between voltage and current that was caused by capacitors, motors, etc. Unless the operator acts, the power factor degradations continue to happen.
An exact synchronization of both current and voltage is required for preserving the reliability of the grid.

Top 40+ Renewable Energy Projects Ideas

Many renewable energy projects for engineering students have been curated and presented below.

Summary

Integrating microgrids into the renewable energy-based power production system across the current utility grids is the initial attempt to transform to the smarter grid system from the traditional power systems. The major challenge in the successful implementation of any renewable energy projects is that many people are not ready to accept the transition to renewable energy-based power production systems from the oil-empowered systems.