INESC Porto leads revolution in the national power system

Energy Consumers/Producers: a more real concept

The More Microgrids project was concluded last December. With a participation that started four years ago, INESC Porto was capable of demonstrating the technical feasibility of the large-scale integration of microgeneration systems in distribution grids. The More Microgrids thus contributed to promote a model for the distributed production of electricity by the consumer, company or private customer, which should coexist with the classical model of centralised production of electricity. Other than direct economic benefits for this new type of consumer, who is simultaneously a producer of electricity, the More Microgrids also promotes environmental benefits: a decrease in CO2 emissions as a result of the reduction of energy losses in the transportation of electricity to the end consumer. At the same time, it decreases the volume of electricity production in conventional thermal power plants since the microgeneration units explore renewable energies.

The dawn of microgeneration

INESC Porto had a major participation in the European project More Microgrids, a work where it was possible to assess the impact of the integration of multiple microgrids in the electricity distribution grids. The development of these concepts part of the scientific domains of the electric grids of the future, offering interesting opportunities to the Portuguese industry through the industrialisation and commercialisation of the solutions that were studied within the project. The participation of INESC Porto in the project increased the institution’s visibility considering the large number of scientific works with a high level of innovation that were published in journals and presented in national and international congresses.

Microgeneration consists of producing electricity, generally by the consumer (company or private customer), through the use of small equipments, namely solar panels, microturbines, micro wind turbines or other types of technology. This production of electricity leads to significant economic and environmental benefits. Developed in the context of the 6th Framework-Programme, the More Microgrids is the continuation of the Microgrids project, extending the concept of microgeneration and thus making it possible to reduce losses of power in the transportation and distribution of electricity, by replacing the conventional production with a partly renewable production, located near the consumers.

The consumer is also a producer

With the participation of several European partners, namely the Technical University of Athens, the University of Manchester, the German institute ISET or the Portuguese EDP, among others, this project was motivated by the interest in the exploitation of geographically distributed renewable energy resources and characterised by its innovation, namely with the emergence of a new generation of consumers that are, at the same time, energy producers, thus becoming some sort of producers-consumers. Also, these consumers can contribute, with their decisions, to the real-time electricity consumption management.

With the introduction of the new information and communication technologies in the low voltage grids, to which small equipments are connected, and with a new concept to manage electric grids, it is possible to promote the decentralisation of energy production and distribution. Questioned about the revolution that this new model brought comparatively to the classical model of energy production and distribution, João Peças Lopes, director of INESC Porto and the researcher responsible for the project, states that More Microgrids “contributed to the extension of the concept of «microgrid», defining it as a cell of a complex system. And thus it is part of the change in paradigm in the operation of the power system, which is evolving from a centralised model of production, to a model of distributed production of electricity”.

Energy democracy – benefits from the economy to the environment

With the extension of the so-called decentralised production, where each consumer is a producer on a small scale (in a house, company), individually or in small groups (microgrids) of condos or public services, an energy democracy is promoted with the inclusion of the domestic market, an area in which countries like Japan, Germany, United Kingdom and USA have been investing strongly. And with More Microgrids, Portugal is following the same steps. The incentive behind the project comes from the battle against climate change, from the liberalisation of Europe’s electrical markets and from the increasing oil prices, and thus the benefits of the project go from the economy to the environment.

Other than reducing energy losses in the power distribution system, the project is one step forward to change the strong dependence of the Portuguese power system relatively to other countries. More than that, as João Peças Lopes states, the results of the More Micro Grids “have great potential in the sense that it promotes wealth and qualified employment, namely through the transfer of this knowledge to the industry”. On the other hand, “while targeting microgeneration solutions where renewable resources are explored, it will lead, if the concept is widely adapted, to important environmental benefits that will result in the reduction of CO2 emissions caused by power losses in the electric grids, and by the transfer of power from the classical thermal power plants to microgeneration”, the professor adds.

A new energy era

And how do operators see this new concept consolidated by the More Microgrids? The answer of INESC Porto’s director is clear: “the grid operators realised that there is an ongoing change and they are willing to explore these new concepts”. More than that, “we can say that with this project we have developed the concepts of microgeneration and microgrids, including management and control strategies to be adopted, so that system operators can implement these concepts on a medium term”. And thus it was possible for INESC Porto to gain “advanced knowledge in this domain, and today it is one of the institutions of reference widely acknowledged, technically and scientifically, in this domain”, João Peças Lopes guarantees.

And plenty opportunities have resulted from this project, “from the evolution of microgeneration exploring smart metering, and we’re already doing this with EDP within the InovGrid project, to connecting the concepts of microgeneration and microgrid with electric mobility, something we have already started working on through research work and through the European project MERGE (Mobile Energy Resources for Grids of Electricity)”, the professor adds. More Microgrids thus worked as leverage to promote changes in paradigm in the power sector and to improve the understanding of how the electric grids of the future will work, with the consumer at the centre of the system. Moreover, the project is capable of benefiting the economy and the environment. Proving the feasibility of the concept of microgeneration in the electric grids of the future, the More Microgrids thus consolidated INESC Porto’s top position in the area of Power Systems.