Hybrid Power – The need of the hour
Across the world, the need to make the energy portfolio environmental friendly is a pressing need. Among the renewable sources, solar and wind power are considered as a technological option for generating clean green energy. Hybrid power generation using these sources is gaining momentum backed by favourable government policies and the abundant potential in India. This increasing demand is driving down the cost of solar energy which is attracting more and more investment in the sector.
While the investment and increasing of hybrid power system share in the energy sources is fully justified, it is also equally important to have efficient controls that will enable renewable energy usage to the maximum possible extent including the possibility of exporting excess power back to the grid.
Challenge with hybrid power systems
In a contemporary system, solar power can only be utilised as long as the utility supply is available. In the absence of utility, solar power can no longer deliver the power and the diesel generators come in to deliver the backup power. The solar/battery/wind systems are not geared up to supply power along with the diesel or gas genset as the load sharing between the renewable and conventional energy groups is a challenge. This leads to burning the fuel (diesel/gas) for the genset to take the entire load for the duration for which the utility is absent, in spite of solar/wind power source being available.
DEIF’s answer to the challenge
DEIF with its experience and expertise in the field of power generation control technology has come up with an innovative solution to this challenge. DEIF introduces the Automatic Sustainable Controller (ASC-Solar, ASC-Battery and ASC-Wind), a solution that provides integrated solution for systems with utility, diesel, battery, solar and wind power sources.
The system provides an interface between the diesel/gas genset, solar, battery and wind power, with or without presence of utility supply – a solution that enables you to share the load between solar PV cell, wind power, battery bank and diesel/gas genset with maximum solar penetration, thus resulting in maximised savings even during utility failure. DEIF solution being cost-effective balances your economy and conserves the environment as it is highly efficient. It also increases the reliability of the system and reduces the dependence on one single source.
DEIF’s Hybrid Microgrid
In your present off-grid setup with utility and genset power sources, a PV plant can easily be added and controlled by the ASC Solar. A solar system consists of series of PV cells connected to their respective inverters. ASC-4 Solar controller is connected to the master inverter or central control point of the group of inverters and interconnected among utility and genset controllers through CAN bus communication.
During the day time, the PV plant generates solar power which means fewer gensets need to be running. During cloudy weather the power can be supplemented by starting the necessary gensets. During the night time, the PV plant has no output and the gensets provide the necessary power.
An optional weather forecasting unit can easily be added. The ASC-4 controller also supports short-term weather forecasting systems to optimise the output. DEIF system is capable of withstanding a drop in PV production, for instance due to clouds casting shade on the PV panels. Using a sky image camera for cloud tracking, the solar production forecast for the coming period is delivered to the PV/diesel control system i.e. the ASC-4 Solar controller. This enables it to start up the required number of genset in due time before clouds reduce the PV production and maintain a sufficient amount of spinning reserve. DEIF’s ASC solutions are compatible with the leading short-term forecasting systems of the industry from Reuniwatt and SteadySun. The forecasting is directly coupled to the existing spinning reserve routine and will generate automated start/stop of gensets accordingly.
A battery bank can easily be added and controlled by the ASC-4 Battery controller. When the power in the battery bank is low, it can be easily recharged by the system. When the battery bank is fully charged, it supplies power to the system which could mean that no gensets need to be running. During night time when the battery bank is being emptied, the system will automatically starts the correct number of gensets to compensate for the power requirement. You can easily add a wind turbine controlled by the ASC-4 Wind controller. Together with the PV plant and the battery storage system it can contribute to the green energy even at low periods such as night time. It all helps to produce as much green energy as possible.
One can easily use the solution with a grid connection controlled by the AGC Mains controller. If the grid connection is lost, the system continues on green energy for as long as possible before starting any genset. DEIF’s hybrid microgrid solution (ASC) helps you to reduce your fuel consumption and maintenance intervals while at the same time cutting emissions. ASC increases safety of the system by protection against reverse power flow into the grid when running in parallel with the grid, thus avoiding tripping of the grid and penalty to the customer.
DEIF’s expertise is your advantage
At DEIF, the company cares about green energy which is why they develop energy-efficient products and solutions. DEIF products have been installed and running successfully world over for over 80 years. DEIF’s hybrid microgrid solution – Automatic Sustainable Controller (ASC) has been incorporated in more than 50 solar power projects of 20 MW total PV capacity with 60 MW diesel power (DG), all over India and many more projects are in the pipeline.
For more information, write at india@deif.com
