The image shows wind turbines that are part of a microgrid at Kodiak Island off Alaska. As energy stocks and to stabilize the network, two flywheels from ABB.
Small local grid – microgrid – is a growing trend around the world. Thanks to cheaper batteries and solar cells connect more businesses and communities away from the grid.
In Alaska, microgrids nothing new. There are already about 200 of them in remote and sparsely populated communities.
In South Africa begins to expand rapidly. On the ABB factory in Johannesburg are working around 1 000 people. Here are built including power converters and switchgear. Without electricity stops operations – and blackouts are living in elkrisens South Africa. Therefore, there are four diesel generators which could be mobilized.
But now the factory become more eloberoende. The large roof is reinforced to support a photovoltaic plant of 750 kW. The solar cells must interact with a battery of 380 kWh. Along with the diesel generators and a smart control system, they form a power system can be disconnected from the grid, and form a so-called microgrids.
– We do this installation to get secure access to electricity, but also of economic reasons. Electricity prices have gone up sharply in recent years, says Stuart Michie, Head of the microgrid at ABB in Johannesburg when new technology visit the factory.
He expects that the investment will pay back in 10-12 years. If the facility would provide surplus is the opportunity to enter the electricity grid. It will also be presented to other companies in southern Africa who want to produce their own electricity using solar or wind.
– There is a strong interest, including from mines that are currently dependent on diesel generators says Stuart Michie.
microgrid has been around a long time. On islands and in sparsely populated areas, villages and enterprises had local electricity grid fed by such as diesel generators. Although the backup power is at such hospitals form a kind of microgrids as they snatch up during power cuts.
But with the collapse of solar cells and battery technology that have a greater impact. Market research firm Transparency recently published a report which predicts that the market for microgrids will increase from about 80 billion in 2013 to 300 billion in 2020.
– It’s a trend that more people want to be more independent of the mains. They discover that it is also economically profitable to invest in a microgrid with renewable electricity, said Massimo Danieli, head of ABB’s global business unit Grid Automation.
He adds that there are other motivations. Many want to reduce diesel consumption for environmental reasons. Moreover, it is both expensive and difficult to transport diesel fuel to remote locations.
microgrids with renewable electricity is also a way to electrify the areas not reached by the electricity grid. According to the IEA’s 1.3 billion people lack access to electricity, of which almost half in Africa.
In a country like the United States, reliability is an important factor. After Hurricane Sandy, which made eight million Americans without power in 2012, has been the US Department of Energy launched an application to modernize the electricity grid. There are several projects with microgrids, which will include making communities and critical infrastructure better equipped against extreme weather and natural disasters.
New York State, which was hit hard by the storm, has allocated the equivalent of half a billion kronor to a competition to build local microgrids.
In a first step, 83 communities received a planning grant. Later this year, the ten most promising projects receive additional funds to go ahead with their plans.
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