Mikro-vattenkraft - för det smarta elnätet i framtida städer
Typ
Examensarbete på grundnivå
Program
Publicerad
2019
Författare
Vilhjalmsson, Kevin
Hjelm, Axel
Modellbyggare
Tidskriftstitel
ISSN
Volymtitel
Utgivare
Sammanfattning
The growth in renewable energy production in recent years has given rise to new challenges for management and distribution of energy in Sweden. Furthermore, this has opened a new path in the energy market, as consumers nowadays can sell self-produced energy. To ensure a good operational reliability in the power grid system, it is necessary to maintain a good power balance, namely that as much energy that is consumed must also be produced. With an increasing proportion of intermittent energy production, through wind power and solar energy, and a varying energy consumption among consumers, a smart grid is required that keeps track of the power balance in the system. Furthermore, it is required that the energy produced at production peaks can be stored in a cost-effective manner in order to be able to distribute it during high consumption peaks.
Since the energy from hydropower is mainly produced through centralized plants that are directly connected to the main grid, this technology is not as relevant when discussing smart grids. To ensure the reliability of the system, a broad collection of energy sources is important, not least for renewable sources, due to uncertain meteorological fluctuations. The market for micro-hydropower is growing, however is currently limited.
Micro hydro power is defined as systems that utilize hydrological flows to produce electricity with a power span from 5kW to 100kW. The variation of systems depends primarily on the fact that pressure and flow vary greatly depending on the application site. Those who distinguish them are then the design of turbines and how the water is led in an efficient way in the turbine. Then, however, the generator, electronics and frequency converter all look very similar.
A potential development area for micro-hydropower in future cities, is the management of rainwater as part of the climate adaptation work against floods. The central part of such a system would be artificial water reservoirs, which can also act as an energy layer for intermittent energy at production peaks. Here would pump stations convert electrical energy into potential energy, which can then be used as a controllable source at high consumption peaks. In this way one can reduce the need for battery banks, which at present is not cost-effective. Since the system is multifunctional, the value of such a system will be high.