ENVIRONMENT

All the developed solutions will be demonstrated in 4 pilot sites. The island of Kythnos, where Europe's first microgrid operates, together with the island of Bornholm in Denmark, which recently received the RESponsible Island award from the European Commission and is known for its high RES penetration, will comprise the two European pilot sites. Kythnos has a rich history in the adoption of sustainable energy applications. In 1982, the first wind farm in Europe was installed at the island, while in 1983, the first hybrid station was created, consisting of a PV system and batteries. In 1989 the existing wind turbines were replaced by ones with higher power rating, and in 1998 one more high-power wind turbine was installed on the island. Smart RUE team has been involved in research projects on the island since 2001, when the first microgrid in Europe (2001) was built, supplied almost 100% by renewable energy sources, located in Gaidouromantra beach. The system was constructed within the context of PV-MODE and MORE projects, supported by the European Union and in which it participated actively. In 2006, the Kythnos microgrid was upgraded as part of the MORE MICROGRIDS project and was used as a testing area for the implementation of advanced control strategies. Since 2019, as part of the Kythnos Smart Island national project, Smart RUE research team has undertaken the study for the upgrade of the existing microgrid infrastructure, which is currently in progress.

More recently, in the summer of 2021, the implementation of the RE-EMPOWERED project began. Within this project, mature technologies developed by Smart RUE research team are further upgraded, for the smart management of production and consumption of autonomous systems / islands and microgrids, in order to ensure the reliable and sustainable  energy supply, through clean energy. Regarding the island of Kythnos, the goal of "RE-EMPOWERED" is to continue the development of smart solutions that have been developed over the years by the Smart RUE research team and to accelerate the digitization and energy transition of the electrical system of Kythnos island and Gaidouromantra microgrid. The tools and business models that will be further developed within the context of "RE-EMPOWERED", will lead to a holistic smart management of the island's energy resources. The ultimate goal is these solutions, tools, strategies and business models to compose an economically viable and attractive multi-level architecture that could be replicable in all non-interconnected islands, both in Greece and abroad.

The second pilot site in Europe is the Danish island of Bornholm, which already has a very high RES penetration. The tools developed for the optimal management of energy production and consumption, will be demonstrated on the island to achieve local power control, reduce peak load and for the optimal use of green energy, such as biomass and solar energy. Synergies of RES with the heating system of the island, by utilizing the district heating system for energy storage produced from RES, are the main objective of the developed applications. This could serve as a blueprint and be replicable in all islands (and geographical areas) with district heating - with or without interconnection with the mainland.

On the Indian side, Ghoramara is a small island with insufficient electricity supply and a low standard of living due to frequent cyclones that hit the area. Within the context of the project, a microgrid will be developed that will contribute to the improvement of the living standard through the electrification of 300 houses, creating a replicable example for the rest of the island and other similar remote areas. At the same time, the second Indian pilot site will be developed in Keonjhar province, which aims to significantly upgrade the existing microgrid and create a sustainable socio-economic model of local energy management, aiming to transfer knowledge to other remote Indian villages. The goal of the development and implementation of new technologies is the creation of local microgrids with modern technologies, resilient to extreme phenomena that meet the energy needs and to improve the inhabitants’ standard of living.

The  technical tools that are being developed in the context of the project, manage the various energy resources, both renewable and conventional, the energy storage units and the controllable electric appliances that perform critical functions within the community, such as heating and cooling, pumping and water purification as well as charging of utility electric vehicles. They seek the efficient management of multiple energy carriers,  in order to meet a number of economic, environmental and social criteria, such as the reduction of operating energy costs,maximum utilization of renewable energy and assurance that the needs of the electricity consumers will be covered to the extent that is allowed by the system’s operating limitations. In larger-scale  systems, such as the non-interconnected islands, the developed tools include the optimal management of production units, forecasting of RES production and system load as well as algorithms for verifying the security status of the system.

For the above-mentioned applications, the possibility of interoperability with industrial equipment is developed, that can have the supervision and control of the microgrid’s or the non-interconnected island’s components. This synergy combines the robustness of operation provided by tested industrial applications with the research innovation. At the same time, the partnership in the development of new technologies between academic institutions such as the National Technical University of Athens, the DANMARKS TECHNICAL UNIVERSITY of Denmark and the IMPERIAL COLLEGE OF SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY AND MEDICINE of Great Britain,  and private companies working on industrial energy system applications (Protasis SA) as well as other EU and Indian actors, facilitates the exchange of know-how and the integration of innovation with industrially tested technologies.

The development of above mentioned applications are the new generation tools that have been developed by the NTUA research team. Previous developments have been successfully demonstrated in Greece and abroad. Specifically, in Gaidouromantra microgrid, decentralized control techniques of the home loads have been applied to ensure the financial efficiency of the system and the sustainable management of the natural resources. The NTUA research team developed smart home controllers that determined the use of water pumps in the homes of the microgrid automatically, deciding to shut down depending on the communication with the controllers of other homes. As a result, the use of the diesel generator was avoided at times with low RES production and charge level of the storage system. The next picture shows the installation of smart controllers that were developed at NTUA and installed on the Gaidouromantra microgrid.

At the same time, the NTUA research team has developed and carried out pilot tests of innovative equipment in the settlement of Meltemi in Rafina. Small distributed resources have been installed in the settlement, including a diesel generator, photovoltaic plants and small household wind turbines. To control the local loads in Meltemi, intelligent electronic device management devices, MAGIC (Multi AGent Intelligent Control), have been developed and designed by the NTUA, which are installed in several houses. This system allows the distributed energy resources and the consumption devices to "negotiate" in order to optimally distribute the available energy and in the most "democratic" way among the residents. The equipment is designed for indoor installation and has a monitor that displays messages to the consumer about the state of the system, consumption and cost of the consumed energy. This information is also available to the consumers through the internet. In pilot tests, specific metering devices for the automated management of overload events in the substation of the settlement have been tested, as shown in the video submitted with the initiative.