Abstract

Renewable energy technologies (RETs) such as wind and photovoltaic (PV) have great potential for reducing the cost and environmental impact of electricity production in stand-alone power systems (mini-grids). However, due to fluctuating nature of RETs, and the various constraints of diesel power plants, a suitable communication system is required for better coordinating the operation of the various sources and controllable loads so as to increase diesel fuel displacement without compromising the power quality.
A framework for designing and dimensioning a communications network for supervision and control of hybrid mini-grids as well as for choosing the network’s components and interfaces (including the data acquisition systems, modems, network hubs and switches, communications media and channels, etc.) is presented. In this framework, standard technologies and readily available communications units and subsystems are chosen with a view to satisfy the requirements and assumptions. In doing so, the hardware components needed for implementing such a network are identified, and various software pieces are written to integrate all elements of the network. A set of performance measures that are normally used to assess the performance of data communications networks is identified, and their values are obtained via extensive tests.