A

Seminar Report
On

DIGITAL GRID
submitted in partial fulfillment of
the requirements for the degree of

Bachelor of Engineering
in

Electrical (Electronics & Power) Engineering

of

Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Amravati

Submitted by

Mr. Sarang G. Adsad

Under the guidance of

Prof. M.R.Chavan
Department of Electrical Engineering

Department of Electrical Engineering (Electronics & Power)

Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of Engineering, Shegaon,
Dist- Buldhana – 444 203 (Maharashtra)
(2014-15)
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Department of Electrical Engineering (Electronics & Power)

Shri Sant Gajanan Maharaj College of Engineering,
Shegaon – 444203, Maharashtra, India

CERTIFICATE

The seminar report entitled “Digital Grid” is hereby approved as a creditable

study carried out and presented by Mr. Sarang G. Adsad in a manner satisfactory to

warrant its acceptance as a pre-requisite in a partial fulfillment of the requirements for

degree of Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical (Electronics & Power) Engineering

of Sant Gadge Baba Amravati University, Amravati.

Prof. M.R. Chavan Dr. S. R. Paraskar

Guide Head of the Department

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Acknowledgement

The real spirit of achieving a goal is through the way of excellence and lustrous
discipline. I would have never succeeded in completing my task without the
cooperation encouragement and help provided to me by various personalities.
I would like to take this opportunity to express my heartfelt thanks to my guide
Prof M.R. Chavan for his esteemed guidance and encouragement, especially through
difficult times. His suggestions broaden my vision and guided me to succeed in this
work. I am also very grateful for his guidance and comments while studying part of my
seminar and learnt many things under his leadership.
I extend my thanks to Dr. S.R. Paraskar, Head of the dept. Electrical
Engineering (Electronics & Power) Department, ShriSantGajananMaharaj, College of
Engineering, Shegaon for their valuable support that made me a consistent performer.
I also extend my thanks to Dr. S. B. Somani, Principal, Shri Sant Gajanan
Maharaj College of Engineering, Shegaon for his valuable support.
Also I would like to thanks to all teaching and non-teaching staff of the
department for their encouragement, cooperation and help. My greatest thanks are to all
who wished me success especially my parents, my friends whose support and care
makes me stay on earth.

Place: SSGMCE, Shegaon Sarang G. Adsad

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Table of Contents

Chapters Page No.

1. Intoduction 6
1.1 Todays Grid 6
2. What is digital grid. 7
3. Problem With present Grid System. 7
4. Digital Grid solution. 8
5. Features Of Digital Grid. 9
6. Functon of Digital Grid. 9
6.1 Support for High Penetration of Renewable Energy 9
6.2 Grid Stability and Redundancy 9
6.3 Ad Hoc Flexibililty. 10
6.4 Digital Power Trading.
10
6.5 Merging Information and Electric Power.
10

7. Energy Exchange procedure on the Digital Grid 10

8. Digital Grid Router 12
9. Digital Grid Controllers 12
10. Benefits 13
11. Conclusion 14
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ABSTRACT

To support a high penetration of intermittent solar and wind power generation,

many regions are planning to add new high capacity transmission lines. These
additional transmission lines strengthen grid synchronization, but will also increase the
grid’s short circuit capacity, and furthermore will be very costly.

With a highly interconnected grid and variable renewable generation, a small

grid failure can easily start cascading outages, resulting in large scale blackout. We
introduce the “digital grid,” where large synchronous grids are divided into smaller
segmented grids which are connected a synchronously, via multi leg IP addressed
ac/dc/ac converters called digital grid routers. These routers communicate with each
other and send power among the segmented grids through existing transmission lines,
which have been repurposed as digital grid transmission lines.

The digital grid can accept high penetrations of renewable power, prevent
cascading outages, accommodate identifiable tagged electricity flow, record those
transactions, and trade electricity as a commodity.
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INTRODUCTION

Todays Grid Scenario :

Today’s energy grid has been developed with extensive interconnections and
grids often spanning continents. The purpose of this interconnection is to improve
reliability through redundancy. However, in some ways, this interconnection increases
the risk of wide area failures because any imbalance can be propagated quickly over an
ever widening area. Increasing proportions of renewable and variable energy generation
cause increasing fluctuations which will become, at some point, unmanageable using
the current grid architecture. If we can envision a future world where higher penetration
of renewable energy is expected, we can also forecast new ways to use electricity that
are not possible with the current grid design. In order to accept increasing penetration
of renewable energy into the current power grid, it is important to measure power levels
throughout the grid, as is envisioned in many smart grid designs.

This paper describes the “digital grid” where a wide-area synchronized power
system is subdivided (“digitalized”) into smaller or medium sized power systems.
Subdivided grids called “digital grid cells” are connected together asynchronously via
“digital grid routers” (DGR). DGRs can send discrete power packets over existing
transmission lines to any location using multi leg voltage source converters, with high
frequency modulation, combined with IP address information. Within the subdivided
cells, “digital grid controllers” (DGC) coordinate with DGRs to absorb, consume and
generate the discrete power packets associated with wind, solar, load and energy
storage. DGRs also tie a number of cells to the main (traditional) grid and play a roll of
a shock absorber so that intermittent renewables in cells will not affect the main grid.
DGRs will also support the main grid stability via use of energy storage

The energy transactions through DGRs and DGCs can be recorded using
embedded data storage and collected by certified service providers along with many
properties such as location, time, generation source, price and including CO credits,
RPS value, and green certificates. This new grid is thus “digitalized,” where rather than
allowing energy to flow across the grid relatively uncontrolled from source to
destination, it is now discretely controlled by digital means across each segment.We
would like to envision a digital grid where energy use enables a better world rather than
being a harbinger of environmental damage.
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What Is Digital Grid ?

To address the issues of the grid, a new Digital Grid system is proposed where a
wide-area synchronized grid is subdivided into small or medium sized cells, and
connected through asynchronous and coordinated control power exchanges.
Asynchronous coordination is the exchange of power through connecting separate
unsynchronized AC sub-grids using multi-leg AC/DC/AC conversion via power
semiconductors (IGBT) with accompanying communication. These devices we call
"Digital Grid Routers" (DGR).

The Digital Grid as described so far enables a robust wide-area grid through
segmentation and planned energy flows. This subset of the Digital Grid concept is a
logical extension of the Tres-Amigas project under construction in Texas, which seeks
to connect the three North American primary interconnections through a similar
AC/DC/AC link. However, the Digital Grid supports smaller segments, and has
addressable exchange of energy between cells which are not directly connected. The
digital grid is a new architecture for the grid, not a single point solution like Tres-
Amigas. In order to enable very high penetration of renewables, each cell must be made
substantially self sustaining, with pre-planned injections of energy to meet forecast
shortfalls. This next stage of diffusion of the Digital Grid will require energy storage.

If each cell has suitable energy storage, it is freed from the conventional restriction of
exactly matching generated power with demand each second. With the existing grid,
the value of energy is inherently tied to the time it is produced as well as the time it is
required, which is the time-related value of electric power. Our Digital Grid removes
this time-related value of energy, and enables true commodity pricing of energy.

Problem With present Grid System :

The existing grid has a number of problems, among them:

 The wide area grid is susceptible to cascading failures. The

energy grid has been developed with extensive interconnections and grids
often spanning continents. The purpose of this interconnection is to improve
reliability through redundancy, yet in fact increases the risk of wide area
failures because any imbalance can be propagated quickly over an ever
widening area.
 Grid stability cannot be maintained with >30% penetration of
renewables – Although many regions are mandating 20-30% of renewable
energy, many experts believe that voltage/frequency stability cannot be
maintained at such levels if predominately variable wind and solar
generation.

 Grid capacity is saturated in many locations and requires additional

transmission lines .The cost and environmental impact of new transmission
lines is considerable, yet still is planned as the only alternative in locations
from California to Texas. However, these new lines only defer the stability
and reliability problems.For grid reliability, transmission assets are
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sometimes deployed in duplicate, then used at low capacity in case of failure

– the planned under-utilization of expensive assets is wasteful. Alternative
pathways to assure reliability should use redundancy such as is
commonplace in the internet, and does not require under utilized assets.

 Wide-area grid topography results in inefficient energy flows by routing

around mountains and lakes – energy flows across the grid according to
Ohm’s law, and often takes undesirable detours due to geographic features,
wasting transmission capacity. Energy flows cannot be identified or traced -
Energy flows into and out of the grid at millions of points, and there is no
tracing of the energy. This makes it impossible for a user to ascertain that
they are in fact using green energy. This also makes it difficult to allocate
expenses for transmission appropriately.
 Today's energy grid has been developed with extensive　interconnections of
grids which span continents. The purpose of this interconnection is to
improve reliability through redundancy. However, in some ways, this
interconnection increases the risk of wide area failures because any
imbalance can be propagated quickly over an ever widening area.

The Digital Grid Solution :

The Digital Grid solution to these transmission grid control issues is to segment
the grid into substantially self-sustaining regions or “cells”, then control the flow of
energy between those cells using controlled, scheduled energy flows.

This segmentation can be done gradually, and the existing transmission lines
can be used, therefore, making the cost no greater than current plans for upgrading the
grid but without the need for costly new HVDC lines. Any failure on the digital grid
cannot spread outside the originating cell, improving the total grid reliability. The map
illustrates this concept compared to Japan where three such cells have already been
implemented on the nationwide grid. In Japan the cells were created due to the need to
bridge the gap between islands and to integrate regions using different frequencies,
though the same result of grid reliability has been achieved.

The Digital Grid as described so far enables a robust wide-area grid through
segmentation and planned energy flows. This subset of the Digital Grid concept is a
logical extension of the Tres-Amigas project under construction in Texas, which seeks
to connect the three North American primary interconnections through a similar
AC/DC/AC link. However, the Digital Grid supports smaller segments, and has
addressable exchange of energy between cells which are not directly connected. The
digital grid is a new architecture for the grid, not a single point solution like Tres-
Amigas. In order to enable very high penetration of renewables, each cell must be made
substantially self sustaining, with pre-planned injections of energy to meet forecast
shortfalls. This next stage of diffusion of the Digital Grid will require energy storage.

If each cell has suitable energy storage, it is freed from the conventional
restriction of exactly matching generated power with demand each second. With the
existing grid, the value of energy is inherently tied to the time it is produced as well as
the time it is required, which is the time-related value of electric power.
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Our Digital Grid removes this time-related value of energy, and enables true
commodity pricing of energy.

Features Of Digital Grid

The proposed digital grid has the following features :

1. Independent cells with mutually unsynchronized phasesand frequencies are

connected using DGRs composed of power converters and coordinated
transmission lines, which exchange electric energy between selected cells by
supplying specified energy directly through power converters to the designated
end point selected by an address. A DGR may have two types of leg: type A
(with power conversion) and type B (without power conversion). Each point-to-
point connection is composed of a set of legs, one of type A and the other of B
plus the power line. This avoids the undesirable double conversion of power.
2. In each synchronized system within a cell, power equipment control devices
called digital grid controllers (DGCs) are used to transfer information and
thereby to control power equipment such as generators and energy
storagedevices.
3. Each DGR and DGC has a CPU, memory, data storage, and network
communications, and is assigned a unique IP address and communicates using an
IP protocol like on the Internet.
4. For communications, if the power transmission line is used, power and
information can be integrated on a single line, or an external data network may
also be used.

Functon of Digital Grid :

1. Support for High Penetration of Renewable Energy : When

integrating a large proportion of renewable energy, the existing power grid is
limited because the power fluctuations grow too large to maintain
synchronization over such a large area. By separating the power grid into cells,
the fluctuations of renewable power are managed within the cell. The
fluctuations of one cell cannot affect other cells because each cell is separated
by ac/dc/ac conversion, thereby preventing a large scale blackout.

2. Grid Stability and Redundancy : Power can be acquired using other

paths if some lines have faults because a number of paths are available among
cells, and it is not limited to the primary path and backup path. In such
asynchronous coordination, small or medium sized cells can be considered to be
“nodes” and the connecting transmission lines as “links,” thereby much of the
communications network theory and technology can be applied. Theoretically,
N nodes have links. This makes the wide area grid robust against major failure.
This robustness is similar topology to the stability and redundancy of the
Internet
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3. Ad Hoc Flexibility : For developed countries with existing operational

infrastructure, it would be prohibitively expensive to replace the entire power
grid so as to convert to the digital grid. However, it is possible to make it
partially “celled,” unlinking a portion from the existing power grid, and have
both synchronous and asynchronous connections, or connecting a commercial
or industrial power system to the existing power grid synchronously, or to
separate a residential power system into an asynchronous cell.

4. Digital Power Trading : The DGR enables the delivery of electricity to the
destination cell, passing through several intermediate cells, by using an address
and routing capabilities, as explained in detail in Section VII. The energy is
tagged with identification information including generation source, route of
delivery, storage device (if any) and end user (energy consumer). When energy
storage is used, the usual restriction that energy must be produced and
consumed at the same time is relaxed. Storage enables flexible commercial
trading so energy can be reserved for future use, and the time of delivery can be
selected by the energy user.

5. Merging Information and Electric Power : The digital grid router and
the digital grid controller are addressable and use outside data networks as well
as power line communication (PLC). Both power and information are
transmitted over the same physical line when PLC is used. This integrates the
energy and the information physically, and offers the benefit of increasing
robustness because it prevents cases where information of a transaction is
delivered via the external data network but the energy cannot be delivered
because the transmission line has a failure. PLC enables simplicity because
when the transmission line has a failure, this is detected, and the information is
not sent erroneously.

Energy Exchange Procedure :

The following steps describe the general steps of energy exchange :
1. Either the DGR or the DGC broadcasts a request to the other equipment to find
a candidate. The broadcast outlines trading conditions including various options
such as the quantity and direction of real power, the quantity and direction of
reactive power, starting time of exchange, ending of exchange, minimum and
maximum exchange trading price, and type of power generator. If any power
equipment can supply under the requested conditions, then it replies with an
offer of trading conditions.

2. Reserve the energy exchange with one candidate, and get an acknowledgement
to confirm. Reserved trading conditions are almost the same as those of the
request. The system which accepts this reservation replies with a repeat of the
suppliers terms to confirm.
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3. These processes are similar to the ordinary reservation in hotels, air tickets, etc.
The reservation can be for a fe seconds or a few days in advance.
4. Find the best route to the candidate from the requester. It is very important to
use an algorithm which minimizes power loss due to power conversion and
transmission line loss.

Energy Exchange Procedure

Digital Grid Router :

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 DGR are Computer Controlled Multi-Leg AC/DC/AC converters with

Internet communications.
 DGR are Computer controlled, like network routers
 DGR are Addressable from anywhere on the grid, like network routers
 DGR connect multiple sub-grid cells through existing AC lines, where each sub-
grid cell is synchronized internally but not synchronized with other cells
 DGR exchange energy with other cells on a pre-planned self-coordinating basis
 DGR can support frequency regulation from cell to cell
 DGR uses IGBT devices for AC/DC and DC/AC conversion
 DGR have multiple “legs” for connection to multiple external cells

Digital Grid Router

Digital Grid Controllers

Digital Grid Controllers (DGC) are distributed, intelligent and network addressable
devices which are associated with each active grid element, such as generators or
storage devices. DGCs make energy transfer requests, initiate and terminate energy
transfers, implement the energy transfer protocol, and provide autonomous operation
for each active element within a cell. The diagram below shows a group of
autonomous cells, each with multiple Digital Grid Controllers, and linked to the other
cells via Digital Grid Routers.
The DGC is attached to the controllers of generators and energy storage units
within the cell. The DGC communicates with other DGCs and DGRs and dispatches
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commands to the controllers of generators, loads, and energy storage units. The DGC
maintains and can transmit information such as the status of generators, the state of
charge (SOC) of energy storage, electric load information, etc. It is possible to plan and
reserve energy exchanges in advance using weather forecasts to predict the fluctuations
of power output from wind or solar generators.

Benefits :
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Function Benefit

Segment the Grid Robust against failure

Gradual conversion from conventional Any community, municipality or region can

grid map a strategy for sustainability

Uses existing transmission lines Increases total grid capacity without additional
transmission lines

Creates a path to sustainable 100% Addresses climate change along with growth
renewable energy in population and energy use

Storage of energy removes unnatural Enables true commodity pricing for energy
mismatch of supply-demand pricing for
energy

Tagging of energy flows enables Carbon trading and green accreditation is

unambiguous tracking of energy source secure when the provenance is verifiable

Safety Power on any digital grid line is not

transmitted without a positive confirmation
from the receiver

Conclusion :

The digital grid enables a more robust grid, by segmenting it into largely
autonomous cells, and with energy storage en- ables a large proportion of renewable
energy, which cannot be achieved with the existing grid architecture. It can be applied
to the current grid step by step and may contribute to increase the utilization factor of
transmission lines. It also enables the com- moditization of energy, resulting in low and
stable electricity prices. Finally, it supports new third party services such as en- ergy
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storage, energy trading markets, green energy supply cer- tification service and
emergency energy supply.

REFERENCES :

 ‘‘Digital Grid: Communicative Electrical Grids of the Future’’

Rikiya Abe, Member, IEEE, Hisao Taoka, Senior Member, IEEE,
and David McQuilkin, Member, IEEE.

Links :
 http://www.digitalgrid.org/en/technology
 http://spectrum.ieee.org/energy/thesmartergrid/japans-
digitalgridscheme.