3DMicroGrid Newsletter

Project's Brief Overview:

3DMicroGrid is on the design, development and demonstration of a future-proof active smart microgrid system to integrate and optimize multiple small to medium sized energy sources and loads. The overarching objective is to capitalize on the availability of local and large renewable energy resources and adapting them for solutions to sustainability in terms of electric power demand and supply. A demo smart microgrid system will be built integrating all energy components, in an effort to (i) maximize renewable energy utilization, (ii) reduce the carbon footprint by minimizing consumption, (iii) improve the power quality while ensuring economic feasibility, and (iv) replicate similar setups to institutions and commercial and rural sites. 3DMicroGrid undertakes a detailed campus assessment of existing energy scenarios, including: energy consumption; diesel consumption and generation efficiency; loads and their classification; consumption patterns such as human presence and behavior; power quality with respect to grid power, switching between various distributed power sources, and techno-commercial assessment.
 

3DMicroGrid will also assess other studies related to the establishment and justification of a smart microgrid while utilizing various equipment, sensors, meters, hardware, and software for measuring, monitoring and analyzing the required data to undertake the study. Different power saving strategies will be envisaged, including load/demand forecasting; renewable energy generation forecasting, integration with weather sensors; utility grid’s power outage pattern identification; prioritizing loads and exercising the option of demand response; identifying the appropriate distributed generator to turn-on; and exercising the option of storage technology utilization of appropriate size. It is expected that the 3DMicroGrid will provide distinct benefits like energy savings, frequency support, and demand side management.

Project's New Poster:

The 3DMicroGrid crew has recently released the third version of its poster, showing the different elements and work packages that build up this whole project. You can find the full-size file of the poster at our website.
 

Darmstadt's Plenary and Industrial Board Meeting
8 - 9 November

The 3DMicrogrid people met again at the at the facilities of Energynautics, in Darmstadt, Germany, and conducted there a Plenary and Industrial Board Meeting. Along the event, during November, researchers had the chance to share the progress achieved and define as well as work towards next goals.

Additionally, experts from industry that form the "Industrial Advisory Board" of the project joined the meeting and gave feedback to the progress achieved so far. This approach will assure that the outcomes of the project stay at high quality and are compliant with the expectations from industry.

International Conference on Smart Energy Systems & Technologies
 

The 3DMicrogrid team has presented four papers at the SEST 2018 Conference held in Seville from 10 to 12 September. The papers are related to the decentralised control of microgrids, the islanding and resynchronisation procedure and the provision of ancillary services to the MV distribution grid by the microgrid. The four papers are available in the Publications tab of our website.

Young Researcher Exchange From GJU at CERTH/ITI

Continuing the Young Researchers mobility program of the 3DMicroGrid project, CERTH/ITI had the pleasure to host Mrs. Nisreen Al-Motlaq, a Master’s student from the German Jordan University (GJU, Amman, Jordan). As a Computer Science engineer, she worked closely with CERTH team on the multi-agent system and specifically on the integration of the 3DMicroGrid SCADA system on the GJU campus. The adjustments required for the microgrid design on the GJU were thoroughly examined and analyzed so as to properly design the features required to test, evaluate and validate the overall system on the GJU model. This two-week collaboration is expected to provide further valuable results on the solutions provided from the 3DMicroGrid project and beyond its lifecycle.

Plenary and Industrial Meeting at CERTH

Recently CERTH hosted the plenary & industrial board meeting of the 3DMicrogrid project, in which the team had the chance to discuss the work flow and review achieved results so far. Furhtermore, assistants could visit CERTH SmartHome Microgrid in a guided tour by hosts.

Upcoming Events - Closure Event at MCAST

By the month of November the last project event will take place at MCAST in Malta. This time 3DMicroGrid people will look back and check all committed work since the beginning of the project. Goals achievement and scope will be reviewed and final results shown. The assistants will follow this agenda:

    - 8th October 2019 an optional day for MCAST configurations and displays setup/future exploitation of 3DMGrid.
  -   9th October 2019 a brief on each WP and their deliverables plus a brief on the final report.  In addition, a session will be dedicated to the general budgets of the projects (if required) and plans of partners on extensions before October 2019.
    - 10th October 2019 MCAST 3rd Energy Day Conference with a special session on 3DMGrid Project.  Presentation of 15 minutes by each partner on 3DMGrid, Intros by MCAST Management, Possible Ministerial Intervention and possible invited Keynote.  A guided tour at MCAST facilities will be provided.
    - 11th October 2019 Malta Innovation Summit - 3DMGrid has a place to exhibit.
    - 14th October 2019 PEARL PV Seminar.
    - 15th - 18th October 2019 PEARL PV Traning.

New 3DMicroGrid Related Papers

Since last newsletter, three papers were published at the SEST 2018 conference held in Seville. These papers talk about islanding and resynchronization, coordination of distributed energy resources and provision of ancillary services. All submited papers up today can be reviewed at the project's website.

Social Media Profiles:

Participants & Sponsors:

3DMicroGrid Newsletter

Project's Brief Overview:

3DMicroGrid is on the design, development and demonstration of a future-proof active smart microgrid system to integrate and optimize multiple small to medium sized energy sources and loads. The overarching objective is to capitalize on the availability of local and large renewable energy resources and adapting them for solutions to sustainability in terms of electric power demand and supply. A demo smart microgrid system will be built integrating all energy components, in an effort to (i) maximize renewable energy utilization, (ii) reduce the carbon footprint by minimizing consumption, (iii) improve the power quality while ensuring economic feasibility, and (iv) replicate similar setups to institutions and commercial and rural sites. 3DMicroGrid undertakes a detailed campus assessment of existing energy scenarios, including: energy consumption; diesel consumption and generation efficiency; loads and their classification; consumption patterns such as human presence and behavior; power quality with respect to grid power, switching between various distributed power sources, and techno-commercial assessment.
 

3DMicroGrid will also assess other studies related to the establishment and justification of a smart microgrid while utilizing various equipment, sensors, meters, hardware, and software for measuring, monitoring and analyzing the required data to undertake the study. Different power saving strategies will be envisaged, including load/demand forecasting; renewable energy generation forecasting, integration with weather sensors; utility grid’s power outage pattern identification; prioritizing loads and exercising the option of demand response; identifying the appropriate distributed generator to turn-on; and exercising the option of storage technology utilization of appropriate size. It is expected that the 3DMicroGrid will provide distinct benefits like energy savings, frequency support, and demand side management.

Limassol's Workshop on Microgrids & Plenary Meeting
5 - 6 June

The University of Cyprus has organized a workshop on microgrids and a plenary meeting for the 3DMicroGrid project. The workshop occurred on 5^th June 2018 in Limassol, where a special session (Micro-Grids: Modeling, Design, Management, and Control) has been organized by the consortium within the 5^th IEEE International Energy Conference (ENERGYCON2018). Several research works have been presented within this special session (by the project partners and by external researchers) related to the design and operation of smart microgrids. Moreover, the workshop included an inspiring keynote speech presented by Prof. Josep Guerrero (worldwide known for his contribution in the field of microgrids) on “Shipboard and seaport microgrids: also going to DC?”  The 3DMicroGrid's initative apportation can be found a the web's downloads repository.

A plenary meeting was organized the following day (on 6^th June 2018 in Limassol) regarding the 3DMicroGrid project. Each partner has presented the progress on the technical and managerial aspects. The technical challenges have been discussed and the dissemination activities and the next steps have been agreed among the partners.

3rd International Hybrid Power Systems Workshop, Tenerife:

From the 8th to the 9th of May, our partner Energynautics attented to the Hybrid Workshop at Tenerife showing to the audience the project latest news. The workshop participants made good use of this unique opportunity to discuss the challenges that arise when high shares of renewables (wind, solar, hydro) are integrated into island power systems/microgrids, in combination with conventional power generators and optionally batteries/flywheels. Finding viable combinations of conventional and renewable energy is one key solution for the efficient and sustainable running of these types of power systems. The shown 3DMicroGrid's presentation's material can be found here and here.

These international experts convened to share their project experiences and to detect areas in need of improvement. With a total of 14 sessions and more than 50 presentations the spectrum of topics included in the Workshop ranged from hybrid system technologies and system modelling/simulation to intelligent control and grid stabilization as well as Mini/MicroGrid system design. Storage issues were covered as well as economic issues.

Beside the regular sessions the workshop also offered great networking opportunities like the Workshop Dinner at the conference venue, poster sessions and a study trip to the Institute of Technology and Renewable Energies (ITER).

You may find more information about the workshop here.

MCAST Energy presents three papers at the 7^th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC-7), Hawaii:

Recently MCAST Energy Research Group (MCAST Energy) Principal Investigator Dr Inġ. Brian Azzopardi and two Master of Research (MRes) Candidates Mr Yesbol Gadullin and Mr Artem Sadula presented three papers at the 7^th World Conference on Photovoltaic Energy Conversion (WCPEC-7), Hawaii. MCAST Energy contributions ranged from innovation updates on emerging solar cells technology, impacts of photovoltaics (PVs) and electric vehicles potential natural mitigation of PV impacts on the electricity grid and system-based study at MCAST campus on the data analysis of MCAST microgrid, the latter as part of 3DMGrid Project.

Full version of papers will be available via IEEExplore and the MCAST Energy webpage www.mcast.edu.mt/229.
 
The awards-winning MCAST Energy specialises in global and regional solutions by innovative devices in emerging technologies, systems level integration to policy engagement for better community and social benefit. The breath of energy research at MCAST Energy includes Device Fabrication and on-site Testing, Energy Economics and Policy, Efficient Buildings, Power Systems, Renewables and Transportation. The group specialises in applied research techniques including but not limited to optimisation, decision making and life cycle analysis.
 
This research is supported by the MCST through the ERANETMED initiative of Member States, Associated Countries and Mediterranean Partner Countries for 3DMGrid project, Transcargo Services Ltd. and Enemalta PLC.

For more info please contact Dr Ing Brian Azzopardi at:
[email protected].
Tel: +356 23980 7704.
Mob: +356 7900 8897.

AGU at EURO 2018, Valencia:

AGU, 3DMicrogrid's participant member, joined EURO 2018 at Valencia with a 3DMicrogrid-related paper, titled 'Real-time energy dispatching in smart microgrids'. EURO2018 is the largest and most important conference for Operational Research and Management Science (OR/MS) in Europe organized by EURO – the European Association of Operational Research Society and the Spanish Statistics and Operations Research Society. It is held by the two major Valencian universities, Universitat de València and Universitat Politècnica de València.

UoS - MCAST, GJU - UCY & AGU - CERTH Young Researchers' Mobility

Along the 3DMicrogrid project's development, young researchers related to the initiative's work perform exchanges, sharing knowledge, points of view and strengthening bound between the associated institutions. Some examples of these collaborations are the following:
Francisco de Paula García's, from UoS, stayed at MCAST facilities working towards MCAST own microgrid in collaboration with the the host's researchers.
Yeliz Yoldaş, from AGU, visited CERTH to work on the design of the centralised controller for smart and active microgrids.
Mohamad Al Hashem visited UCY during the period from 22nd of October to the 3rd of November. He was working on the simulation model of GJU pilot. He has been given an access to the research center of Cyprus University and provided also with an access to the computer server in  order to work on the needed software for the simulation.

Upcoming Events:

Smart Energy Systems and Technology (SEST) promises to enhance the operational efficiency of nationwide energy and power supplies via distributed generation with bi-directional energy and electricity flow. This objective is achieved by allowing intelligent monitoring and control of different components within the distribution and transmission lines as well as other systems from utilities of natural gas, thermal energy, electricity, and water on the one side to the end user on the other side, while maintaining the energy and power quality, security, reliability and safety with minimum environmental impacts. The SEST conference aims at providing an opportunity to discuss various engineering challenges of smart energy system design and operation by focusing on advanced methods and practices for designing different components and their integration within the grid. It also provides a forum for researchers from academia and professionals from industry, as well as government regulators to tackle these challenges, and discuss and exchange knowledge and best practices about design and implementation of Smart energy systems.

The 3DMicroGrid's project crew will join the conference with three papers regarding the research performed inside the project's scope.

More information can be found here.

Project Meeting at Energynautics' HQ, Darmstadt:

The 3DMicrogrid people will meet again at the next project meeting, which will be celebrated at the facilities of Energynautics, in Darmstadt, Germany. Along the event, during November, researchers will have the chance to share the progress performed and work towards the next goals.

Additionally, experts from industry that form the "Industrial Advisory Board" of the project will join the meeting and give feedback to the progress achieved so far. 
This appoach will assure that the outcomes of the project stay at high quality and are compliant with the expectations from industry.

3DMicrogrid Related Papers:

Along the past months several 3DMicrogrid-related publications have been presented worldwide at different congresses and meetings. These papers enhance the project's repercussion and dissemination, meaning a benefit for all participants, and can be found at the 3DMicroGrid's web publications repository.

As shown along this newsletter content, papers and posters have been shown and presented worldwide: WCPEC-7 in Hawaii, Hybrid Power Systems Workshop in Tenerife, EnergyCon2018 in Limassol,... and will be presented at further and future events, as the SEST 2018 held in Seville.

Social Media Profiles:

Participants & Sponsors:

3DMicroGrid Newsletter

Project's Brief Overview:

3DMicroGrid is on the design, development and demonstration of a future-proof active smart micro-grid system to integrate and optimize multiple small to medium sized energy sources and loads. The overarching objective is to capitalize on the availability of local and large renewable energy resources and adapting them for solutions to sustainability in terms of electric power demand and supply. A demo smart micro-grid system will be built integrating all energy components, in an effort to (i) maximize renewable energy utilization, (ii) reduce the carbon footprint by minimizing consumption, (iii) improve the power quality while ensuring economic feasibility, and (iv) replicate similar setups to institutions and commercial and rural sites. 3DMicroGrid undertakes a detailed campus assessment of existing energy scenarios, including: energy consumption; diesel consumption and generation efficiency; loads and their classification; consumption patterns such as human presence and behavior; power quality with respect to grid power, switching between various distributed power sources, and techno-commercial assessment.
 

3DMicroGrid will also assess other studies related to the establishment and justification of a smart micro-grid while utilizing various equipment, sensors, meters, hardware, and software for measuring, monitoring and analyzing the required data to undertake the study. Different power saving strategies will be envisaged, including load/demand forecasting; renewable energy generation forecasting, integration with weather sensors; utility grid’s power outage pattern identification; prioritizing loads and exercising the option of demand response; identifying the appropriate distributed generator to turn-on; and exercising the option of storage technology utilization of appropriate size. It is expected that the 3DMicroGrid will provide distinct benefits like energy savings, frequency support, and demand side management.

Seville's Workshop: Design of Smart Microgrids.

From the 8th to the 10th of November, the University of Seville held the project's workshop about design of smart microgrids. Along the first day, assistants attended to high-level lectures concerning the workshop main topics and real real cases' experience. You may find all the lectures files at the web's downloads' repository.

Following the event's agenda, the project's work packages evolution was addressed as part of the project's management, and technical discussions about microgrid's took place, making emphasis on their performance, modelling and later control.  You can find all the information at the project's website Downloads' tab.

Furthemore, the host university made a demostration of their scale microgrid, in which a full 24h scenario with high renewable energy penetration was simulated within a 15 min scope, being able to replicate the behaviour of a real full-scale microgrid in stress situations, and therefore adapt the design and control phase to the future needs of the grid.

Assitants had the chance to attend to an extra activity, in which the Thermotechnic Research Group head shown them the university's building low-tempertaure thermal plant. This plant grants the students and professors with heat and cooling, having the chance as well of producing electrical energy, hence being an active element within the scope of a microgrid.

Finally, the future meetings and events were considered, focusing on the project's-related papers, publications and sessions' repercussion.

During the month of May the 3DMicrogrid's industrial & managing boards' meeting was held in CERTH facilities Thessaloniki, Greece.

This event had a remarkable impact, being the assistants interviewed and having an official press release about the project as well as this meeting.



 

Along the past months several exchanges between the project's participants took place, increasing and strenghening bounds inside the project's scope and easining knowledge and research share.

Some examples of these exchanges and visits are UoS' Francisco de Paula García stay at MCAST and seminars offered by Prof. Ahmet Önen from Abdullah Gul University at UoS.

Another example is the case of Mohamad Al Hashem (GJU), who has been at University of Cyprus during the period from 22nd of October to the 3rd of November. He was working on the simulation model of GJU pilot. He has been given an access to the research center of Cyprus University and provided also with an access to the computer server in  order to work on the needed software for the simulation. By the end of his visit, a complete model was built for the potential GJU micro-grid which consists of utility grid, one main station, six substations and six blocks as shown in figure 1. Each one of the blocks mostly consists of demand power, diesel generators and a PV system. 

Upcoming Events:

A special session is organized in the IEEE International Energy Conference (ENERGYCON 2018) by the consortium of the 3DMicroGrid. The organization of the special session is led by Abdelkader Chaker, Mounir Khiat, Leila Ghomri and is focusing on the modeling, design, and control of micro-grids. The special session aims to highlight the followings aspects: practical challenges that prevent the wide spreading of micro-grid, smart management techniques under autonomous-interconnected mode, techno-economic optimization of micro-grids operation, increased utilization of renewables and storage. The IEEE ENERGYCON 2018 will be held in Limassol, Cyprus between 3-7 June 2018. More information can be found here.

3rd International Hybrid Power Systems Workshop is held by Energynautics from 8^th to 9^th May 2018 on Tenerife:

Besides of its engagement in 3DMicroGrid, Energynautics supports the enhancement of micro-grids by hosting the 3rd International Hybrid Power Systems Workshop on Tenerife from 8th to 9th May 2018. This workshop is organized in cooperation with UVIG (Utility Variable-Generation Integration Group).
The main objective of the 3rd International Hybrid Power Systems Workshop is to discuss the challenges that arise in isolated and islanded power systems and micro-grids and how they can be efficiently met by deploying a combination of wind, solar, battery and diesel technologies. Finding viable combinations of conventional and renewable energy is one key solution for the efficient and sustainable running of these types of power systems.
The workshop is a unique forum for system planners and designers, operators of small systems, project developers and consultants, universities and research institutes, regulators, NGOs and technology vendors to gain exposure to the latest thinking on the design and operation of hybrid power systems. It will look at applications in a variety of locations and operating environments, with a focus on system design, operating experience, business models, economics and implementation issues.

Registration:
Online registration will open January/February 2018 here: http://hybridpowersystems.org/registration/

Abstract Submission:
To submit a paper, upload an abstract of maximum 3,000 characters (free style) until 15^th January 2018 to our Online Submission Platform.

For details visit our website: www.hybridpowersystems.org

Sponsoring:
If you would like to be a sponsor for the Hybrid Power Systems Workshop please contact:
Thomas Ackermann, Ph.D.
CEO Energynautics
Robert-Bosch-Strasse 7
64293 Darmstadt, Germany
Email:  [email protected]
 

3DMicrogrid Related Papers:

Along the past months several 3DMicrogrid-related publications have been presented worldwide at different congresses and meetings. These papers enhace the project's repercussion and dissemination, meaning a benefit for all participants.

The 3DMicroGrid project participated in the 9th International IEEE PES Asia-Pacific Power and Energy Engineering Conference, that took place on 8-10 November 2017, in Bangalore, India (http://ieee-appeec2017.org). As representative, Angelina Bintoudi from CERTH/ITI, presented orally the project’s conceptual hierarchical agent-based control design for AC microgrids, in the context of a paper titled “Novel Hybrid Design For Microgrid Control”. The main functionalities and benefits that are expected to derive from the 3DMicroGrid architecture were detailed and later on discussed with the audience. During Q&A, the control architecture received constructive feedback and positive comments from academia and research community, notably about its inherit increased reliability as it derives from its ability to reconfigure in case of central controller failure.

For more information, visit the conference site (http://ieee-appeec2017.org/) or contact the main author Angelina Bintoudi ([email protected]).

Another example of these pu and the poster and papers presented by the MCAST crew the 13th of November at PVSEC-27 in Otsu, Japan.

Social Media Profiles:

Participants & Sponsors: