What is a microgrid?
frogblog reader Andrew E pointed me to this interesting article about “microgrids” - which could save a great deal of energy without changing lifestyles. The BBC reports:
Small networks of power generators in “microgrids” could transform the electricity network in the way that the net changed distributed communication.
That is one of the conclusions of a Southampton University project scoping out the feasibility of microgrids for power generation and distribution. Microgrids are small community networks that supply electricity and heat.
They could make substantial savings, and emissions cuts with no major changes to lifestyles, researchers say. Electricity suppliers are aiming to meet the UK government’s Renewables Obligation, requiring them to generate 15% of electricity from renewable sources by 2015.
Microgrids, say the researchers, could easily integrate alternative energy production, such as wind or solar, into the electricity network. They could also make substantial savings and cuts to emissions without major changes to lifestyles, according to lead researcher, Dr Tom Markvart.
With technology coming on stream all the time, moving to sustainable energy use will certainly be doable. It will just become a question of political will and imagination…
September 26th, 2005 at 11:35 am
Just a note, this is basically the way we’ve been moving for a while. There is a company in Wellington (damnit, can’t find the link) that has been producing personal wind generators for a few years now that actually feed back into the grid when your usage is low. I was heartened to see a house being renovated in Epsom yesterday with solar panels covering the roof as well. Pity they’re still so freaking expensive.
September 26th, 2005 at 11:45 am
I thought I would read up on wind generators and found this informative site
http://telosnet.com/wind/index.html
I’d be interested in others
September 26th, 2005 at 1:21 pm
CHP isn’t new - it’s really a reinvention of something that existed when (large) power stations were built in cities. New York has always had CHP through steam pipes (that’s what makes the drains steam in the movies). London used to have a steam fed heating system from Battersea power station to the surrounding flats.
The thing with CHP is that it works best with apartments (or industrial users) - trying to network steam around around suburban Auckland would be very lossy. It would be a bright move to have heat intensive industrial processes (like timber mills) around Huntly power station, rather than using cooling water to warm the Waikato - I don’t know if this has ever been suggested?
But in NZ, we really haven’t moved off the starting grid in energy efficiency - most houses have very little insulation and are heated primarily with electricity.
September 26th, 2005 at 1:50 pm
Microgrids sounds like just another term for Distributed Generation.
The “problem” with DG is that it doesnt benefit the established parties in energy supply. Thus there is a history of established parties making life difficult for small scale suppliers.
This is yet another bannana waiting for the Greens to slip on. As an example, in London is SELCHP, see http://www.selchp.com which converts wate to electricity, and is supposed to also heat nearby blocks of flats, but for reasons that escape me it hasn’t, and fossil fuels heat the nearby flats. However, this plant is opposed by the UK Greens…
September 26th, 2005 at 1:57 pm
greengage;
katie
found this one when investigating solar hot water systems, but he also does wind generators; http://www.selfpower.co.nz
enjoy
September 26th, 2005 at 4:31 pm
We’ve got the power
Solar, wind and microgrids won’t cut it, at least not as long as every project from little to large gets caught up in the maw of the RMA. You’d think that, just once, there’d be some voices celebrating some productivity instead of trying to stamp on…
September 26th, 2005 at 6:25 pm
One of the activities of my business is precisely in this area. Unfortunately the market is completely “wired wrong” to respond to this kind of initiative. The biggest problem is that the people who are in a position to make decisions in favour of investing in this kind of technology, developers and investors, are not the same people who benefit, ie the occupiers.
Until this issue is resolved, the so called “market” will stall any kind of progress.
September 26th, 2005 at 7:00 pm
And I want to add that the basic idea is certainly not new. Visit any Russian city like Ekaterinburg and you will just this kind of thing in action on a wide scale.
Typically the city has local coal fired or nuclear power stations near the city limits that in the wintertime circulate all their waste heat in large insulated pipes {typically > 1m diamater) around the entire city. Each apartment block has it’s own heat exchanger that taps off a portion of this for heating. Each apartment will have a small hydronic radiator in each major room that runs non-stop all winter. Typically the room will be at 28-32degC!! Quite a jump from the -10–30C outside!! Inside I only ever wore a T-shirt (or less).
Effectively the cost of this is zero and the tenants are not even charged for it.
September 26th, 2005 at 10:40 pm
Solar Panels would be an ideal system for this but their current cost is prohibitive. Something like $20,000 worth of solar panels would be required to fully power a home (assuming decent weather… what do you do in winter??).
As a once off this could be justified by some people if it wasn’t going to be obsolete in a few years time. Current efficiency is around 7-13% but this is expected to be 30%+ in another 5 years.
This means that even if panels stay just as expensive as they are now you will only need to buy a third of the amout to power you house meaning $7000.
Few more years…
September 26th, 2005 at 10:59 pm
Peter,
If the developer cannot see a return in doing it, they will not, cannot, spend one dollar extra on any feature not required by legislation.
The problem is that the “market” places no value on energy conservation. My own valuer has told me outright… if I spend say $5000 on double glazing, the valuation will likely only show an extra $2000 in value. ie I have just gotten to throw away $3000 of borrowed money to benefit someone else.
I’m a sucker, but there is a limit to how much dosh even I can loose.
September 27th, 2005 at 11:17 am
I see the same effect from another perspective.
Home automation and “smart homes”. A few years back a number of us had discussions with developers about what it would take to upgrade the standard of electrics fitted to houses in the UK. The answer was that such things are entirely customer driven, and customers are not asking for smart home stuff yet. Therefore the builders wont fit it speculativly.
Guess the same applies with other strange things like PV roofs.
September 27th, 2005 at 11:23 am
Most european countries require a reasonable level of insulation, double glazing, etc. to be built into new properties as part of the building code. The trouble with that in NZ is that people expect to live in a standalone house with a garden - building such a house to a high standard is pretty expensive. People are willing to trade off cold, condensation and high heating bills in favour of space and privacy. (It helps that we have a relatively warm climate - in Sweden you wouldn’t survive the winter in an average NZ house).
For a government to demand substantially higher standards would be unpopular - they would be accused of pricing young families out of houses.
September 27th, 2005 at 2:14 pm
dbuckley
The reason that SELCHP is opposed is because it burns garbage and pollutes the local environment with lovelies like dioxin.
Strange where it’s located too ! Certainly not in the posher parts of London. South East London !
Let’s see if you’d like one near your place ?