- The University of Regina’s new microgrid lab will allow researchers and students to work with real-time energy loads to gauge microgrid reaction.
- Microgrids will be a critical component of grids moving forward.
- Research in the laboratory will also focus on cybersecurity and how cybersecurity threats pass from microgrids to larger grids.
The University of Regina has recently opened a new microgrid lab, tasked with identifying how microgrids can better provide power for Saskatchewan and other provinces.
Funded by Prairies Economic Development Canada, the lab allows researchers and students to work with actual renewable energy sources, digital controls, and real energy loads to determine how microgrids react in real-life situations.
“This is a test pad, or a sandbox, if you will,” lab director Dr. Irfan Al-Anbagi told Climate Insider.
Microgrids are important for energy systems overall, not just for small communities, he said.
“Why microgrids are becoming more attractive is because about 6% of power generated [by power plants or hydropower dams] gets lost in transmission,” he said. Thermal generation systems – anything that includes combustible fuel – can be even worse, he said. “Plus, that causes more carbon emissions.”
“The idea behind microgrids it’s that you put everything in one place: generation, distribution, control, storage, and there’s no transmission loss.”
Microgrids are becoming even more important as climate change leads to more extreme weather, he said.
But because weather patterns are so unstable, it also means that microgrids need to be prepared.
“Every microgrid should have double the amount of energy generated from renewable and storage,” he said. “So if your microgrid generation is 10 kilowatt hours, storage should be at least 20 kwh, and those 20 kwh will be stored for situations like this.”
Dr. Al-Anbagi will focus on testing specific technologies, and how microgrids can best manage these interchanges.
“I’m interested in communication between different components of the microgrid and the main grid,” he said. “There are communication standards and technologies which are already being tested, but I’m interested in using the IEC 61850 standard.”
The IEC 61850 standard defines the unified communication protocol, data model, and services that enable devices to efficiency and reliably distribute information.
One of the reasons why understanding these communication standards and the distribution of information in grid systems is so important is due to the variability of voltage, Dr. Al-Anbagi said.
“Imagine if we had 50 or 70 microgrids on certain parts of the grid, and they don’t communicate,” he said. “This would push power to the main grid, all with different frequencies. This would make it very difficult for the utility to maintain a particular frequency.”
Utilities are currently very cautious about integrating microgrid systems into the large of the grid because of this possible fluctuation in frequency.
“The utility could say ‘no’ to the microgrid, as it causes more chaos than benefit,” Dr. Al-Anbagi said. This was a major problem faced by energy companies trying to build microgrids in Arctic communities, several company heads previously told Climate Insider.
Microgrid lab activity in Western Canada
The University of Regina’s new microgrid lab joins several others in Canada’s west, including a lab at British Columbia Institute of Technology and another at Northern Alberta Institute of Technology in Edmonton.
Learning more about how microgrids can connect with larger grids and in which conditions is important to developing interprovincial electricity grids, Dr. Al-Anbagi said.
“We can simulate interconnection between two provinces, and between Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, and actually see how it works,” he said.
Standards do not yet exist for incorporating microgrid loads onto grids, Dr. Al-Anbagi said. “The International Electrotechnical Commission) in Europe and the North American Electricity Reliability Corp. (NERC) have yet to come up with a standard,” he said. “They have certain pieces, but it is not all-encompassing yet.”
Advancing these standards and resolving outstanding questions on microgrid use could take Canada one step closer to developing an east-to-west clean energy grid, one senior clean energy analyst said.
Many in the cleantech and environmental space have been advocating for this clean energy grid, as opposed to pipelines, to meet increased energy needs.
Future of microgrids
Dr. Al-Anbagi would like to see an increase in the use of artificial intelligence in microgrids (AI).
“The use of AI [in migrogrids is good,” he said. “It makes the system more intelligent, and better than humans because we make errors. But relying too much on technology and making the systems autonomous, this opens the doors for cyberattacks.”
This will be a focus of his research at the lab, and will research how AI can impact cybersecurity of the system.
“We’re not concerned with the microgrid – you can push a button and isolate the system,” he said. “What I’m looking at now with students is, what if an attack from the microgrid infiltrates to the main grid causes a propagation of failures from the microgrid to the main grid.”
This will be his focus of study for the considerable future, he said.
“Cybersecurity is really security,” he said. “Cyberattacks can target systems, and cause nationwide, city-wide, and province-wide blackouts for hours.”
