DC Grid for Domestic Electrification

Abstract

Various statistics indicate that many of the parts of India, especially rural and island areas have either partial or no access to electricity. The main reason for this scenario is the immense expanse of which the power producing stations and the distribution hubs are located from these rural and distant areas. This emphasizes the significance of subsidiarity of power generation by means of renewable energy resources. Although in current energy production scenario electricity supply is principally by AC current, a large variety of the everyday utility devices like cell phone chargers, computers, laptop chargers etc. all work internally with DC power. The count of intermediate energy transfer steps are significantly abridged by providing DC power to mentioned devices. The paper also states other works that prove the increase in overall system efficiency and thereby cost reduction. With an abundance of solar power at disposal and major modification in the area of power electronic conversion devices, this article suggests a DC grid that can be used for a household in a distant or rural area to power the aforementioned, utilizing Solar PV. A system was designed for a household which is not connected to the main grid and was successfully simulated for several loads totaling to 250 W with the help of an isolated flyback converter at the front end and suitable power electronic conversion devices at each load points. Maximum abstraction of operational energy from renewable sources at a residential and commercial level is intended with the suggested direct current systems.

Exact minimization of the energy losses and the CO2 emissions in isolated DC distribution networks using PV sources

“…Remark 2: The MINLP model defined from (1) to ( 9) is a mixed-integer non-convex optimization model due to the square variables present in Equations ( 2) and ( 3) as well as the product of these in (4). However, this model can be transformed into a mixed-integer convex one using the conic representation of the power balance equations presented in [36].…”

“…• The possibility of obtaining convex power flow models via conic constraints with the possibility of ensuring zero duality gap when compared with exact nonlinear nonconvex models [9]. In the specialized literature, the analyses of DC networks are made in the context of providing electric distribution applications in urban and rural areas [1,10]. The main approaches correspond to: a) optimal location and sizing of distributed generators in DC grids [11], b) optimal location and operation of battery energy storage systems [12][13][14], c) optimal reconfiguration of DC feeders [15], d) and planning of DC networks [1], among others.…”

“…In the specialized literature, the analyses of DC networks are made in the context of providing electric distribution applications in urban and rural areas [1,10]. The main approaches correspond to: a) optimal location and sizing of distributed generators in DC grids [11], b) optimal location and operation of battery energy storage systems [12][13][14], c) optimal reconfiguration of DC feeders [15], d) and planning of DC networks [1], among others. Based on the importance of these studies, we focus on the problem of the optimal location and sizing of distributed generators in DC networks considering daily load and PV curves to minimize the number of daily energy losses and the harmful greenhouse gas emissions to the atmosphere.…”

A Hybrid PV-Battery System for ON-Grid and OFF-Grid Applications—Controller-In-Loop Simulation Validation

“…From earlier studies, it found that DC micro-grids are more feasible as PV sources, wind power generator and other renewable sources provide DC current and DC micro-grids are more stable compared to an AC micro-grid [26]. Feasibility of the energy storage system and its controls can be studied for DC grid systems proposed in [27].…”

Secure Management of Networked Batteries for Building Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV) Systems

“…The rational of this preference is that the energy generated from solar panels is in the form of DC, energy stored in battery is DC. Further, the majority of loads are DC [6,13].…”