Outcomes , Insights , and Best Practices from IIC Testbeds : Microgrid Testbed
This article gathers information from Industrial Internet Consortium ’ s ( IIC ) Communication and Control Testbed for Microgrid Applications . The information and insights described in the subsequent paragraphs were captured in an interview conducted by Joseph Fontaine , VP of Testbed Programs at IIC , with Brett Burger , Principal Marketing Manager , Monitoring Solutions , at National Instruments .
TESTBED PROFILE
The history of the traditional power grid is large-scale , bulk power generation concentrated at large power plants . Power traditionally flowed downhill , transmitting to neighborhoods through feeders . It was stable , reliable ( in developed nations ) and , with a few sensor measurements , owners could understand what the network was doing . Microgrids break this traditional paradigm . The general concept of a microgrid is an arbitrary region that contains electrical generation , load , and optional storage . One use case for a microgrid includes adding resiliency and robustness to a traditional power grid .
Other use cases include remote power applications such as military forward operating bases or remote villages in developing nations where large populations are disconnected from the main infrastructure . In both cases , there may be a local grid with poor reliability or a diesel generator that requires trucking in fuel . In these situations , microgrids can reduce the reliance on imported fuel and improve electrical network reliability .
Though microgrids offer many benefits , they come with engineering challenges . Solar and wind generation is , by nature , more dynamic than power from nuclear or fossil fueled plants . Wind and solar generation both rely on power electronics designed to standards that assume the majority of generation is from large scale power plants . Microgrids break that assumption .
The IIC ’ s Communication and Control for Microgrid Applications Testbed , or Microgrid Testbed , examines IoT technologies that can help solve these engineering challenges while focusing on open architectures and interoperability .
New Technology
One new technology examined in the Microgrid Testbed is Time-Sensitive Networking , or TSN . TSN is a set of standards governed by the IEEE 802.1 working group and adds , amongst other features , synchronization and scheduling to standard Ethernet .
Wind , solar , and on-grid battery storage use inverters to convert from DC power to the 50 Hz or 60 Hz AC power used in transmission and distribution systems . Inverter standards were created under with the assumption that they constitute a small percentage of capacity on a grid , effectively requiring an already stable network dominated by synchronous generation ( Synchronous generators output AC power at grid frequency without the need for any conversion electronics ).
That assumption , small percentage of renewables , is breaking down as some regions build up a higher percentage of renewable energy ( think solar in southern California and wind in west Texas or off the coast of the UK ). It also breaks down for
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