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Why Microgrids
Renewable Energy for a Sustainable World
Unlocking energy resilience potential: Harnessing the power of microgrids
Microgrids offer improved energy resilience, reliability, and security of energy supply for both remote and grid-connected areas, while promoting self-sufficiency and sustainable solutions.
Specifically, for remote areas, microgrids provide a lifeline during natural disasters, enabling critical services, such as healthcare facilities and communication systems, to remain operational.
They also offer a reliable and consistent power supply to remote communities, reducing their dependence on long-distance transmission lines and enhancing energy access.
For grid-connected areas, microgrids serve as a robust solution to enhance resilience against grid outages and network congestion. By incorporating advanced control systems and smart grid technologies, microgrids can seamlessly disconnect from the main grid during emergencies and operate autonomously, ensuring uninterrupted power supply to critical infrastructure.
Moreover, microgrids facilitate the integration of electric vehicles and electric heating systems, enabling the electrification of transportation and heating sectors, which contributes to a greener and more sustainable energy ecosystem.
With their versatile capabilities, microgrids are revolutionising the way energy is generated, distributed, and consumed, driving us towards a future powered by resilient, sustainable, and decentralised energy systems.
Developing microgrids
Developing microgrids is a complex process that involves thorough assessment of the site’s renewable energy potential and careful investigation of consumers’ energy usage habits. These considerations are critical in planning a microgrid as over-indexing can lead to excessive spending, while under-resourcing can result in costly future upgrades.
To accurately determine the optimal size of a microgrid, the use of optimisation tools and software packages is therefore essential.
SMOULDER (Stochastic Microgrid Optimisation under Uncertain Loads and Distributed Energy Resources) is an advanced optimisation tool developed by Dr. Soheil Mohseni under the guidance of Professor Alan Brent at Te Herenga Waka—Victoria University of Wellington. SMOULDER is designed to provide the true, optimal size of a microgrid.
Using cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI)-based optimisation algorithms, SMOULDER has the capability to incorporate a wide range of renewable energy generation and storage technologies for optimisation.
With SMOULDER, we are committed to shaping a more sustainable, low-carbon future. By leveraging its powerful optimisation capabilities, we aim to drive the development of microgrids that are precisely tailored to meet the energy needs of communities and promote efficient utilisation of renewable resources.
Together, we can create a sustainable future powered by optimised and intelligently managed microgrids.
