Sustainable Energy Sources

Sustainable Energy and Smart Grids

The large-scale introduction of renewable sustainable intermittent and non- intermittent energy generation requires the development of new grid technologies. Most of the sustainable energy is produced and transported in electrical form. It is not necessarily produced where it is also consumed. This means that the transport capacity of the future grid must probably be much larger than it is now. Currently, variations in power consumption and in power generated from intermittent sustainable sources are instantaneously compensated by variations in generated power in conventional power stations. If conventional power stations are abolished in a sustainable system, it is necessary to adapt the load to the available power or to use large-scale energy storage. Therefore, the distribution grid has to be adapted to enable the large-scale use of small-scale solar power in a safe way and also considering the bi-directional flow of power on distribution circuits.