The ‘grids of the future’ in action

Electricity is the only energy that offers the fastest vector for decarbonisation through the combination of renewables and digital solutions. Smart bi-directional grids are the only way to enable the energy transition, helping the world halve its emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050 to keep within the 1.5C warming trajectory. The ‘grids of the future’ enable this by allowing multiple sources of locally generated decentralised renewable energy to combine safely and reliably while delivering resilience.

Three case studies illustrate how the ‘grids of the future’ emerge in different contexts and locations. Widespread clean and renewable energies and the electricity systems built on digital and other technologies to carry them are the basis for the ‘grids of the future’.

The smart plant – smart energy operations for business success

A recent report from CB Insights found that 80% of industry manufacturers believe smart factories are crucial to their future success. However, while industries face specific challenges in smartening plants due to their complexity and scale, the process may be simpler than it appears.

With smart automation technology and energy technologies such as onsite renewable generation and green hydrogen production, plant operators have the tools to readily modernise, automate and optimise their energy use and other plant operations.

As an example, a global manufacturer of pumps and pump systems, Wilo wished to decarbonise its activities by becoming energy-independent and centralising the management of the different processes and energy flows involved.

The solution included a 3MW rooftop solar installation powering a 300kW electrolyser to produce green hydrogen with a 500kg tank for its storage. A 150kW battery energy storage system was integrated for peak shaving and emergency power supply via a 75kW fuel cell. An exchanger also was implemented to enable the use of waste heat for cooling applications.

With the integration of all the processes in a single digital platform the automation of the launching of green hydrogen production and the use of the available energy resources for peak shaving, the solution responded fully to Wilo’s needs.

Green hydrogen – how AI can accelerate the energy transition

While all the potential uses of green hydrogen in the future energy mix are open to debate there is agreement that it will have an important role, in decarbonising sectors that are hard to electrify, such as heavy transport and in an industry where hydrogen has been used as a feedstock for decades.

A major challenge, however, is scaling up the production, with decisions on where to site electrolysers and infrastructure such as storage taking into consideration the need for renewable energy to create green hydrogen and the demand requirements.

A new analysis from the ETIP SNET initiative argues that electrolysers should not be treated merely as a new load on the grid but should be addressed as a part of the system architecture so that the growth of the hydrogen ecosystem is matched with that of the associated renewables.

The analysis suggests that most electrolysers are likely to be grid-connected. While smaller MW-scale electrolysers should be able to rely on grid power when renewables are not available, larger GW-scale electrolysers will have a significant impact, requiring transmission system operator positioning and solutions such as microgrids for their operation.

Electrolysers and the wider hydrogen ecosystem also are expected to play an important role in delivering demand flexibility to the grid, both short term of seconds to minutes and long term up to months with storage of excess renewable generation.

With this, they offer the potential to support resilience on the grid and to control electricity prices for consumers by avoiding the need for other more costly grid management options.

Data centres – the renewable energy opportunity

Data centres are a growing and key component of the IT infrastructure, enabling the cloud and software as a service. They are energy intensive, due both to the number of servers they need to run and to the associated cooling requirements. Often, they have the added challenge of delivering 24/7 availability, necessitating a backup power requirement.

A key consideration in evaluating solutions for data centres is the level of emissions that are assessed as Scope 3 (i.e. indirect, across the value chain) as these become increasingly important for reporting.

Depending on the carbon intensity of purchased electricity, Scope 3 emissions can be the largest contributor to the total carbon footprint. The main action proposed to reduce Scope 3 emissions is to use more renewable and clean energies, such as solar, wind or hydro.

The use of clean energies also is a key step for more sustainable power backup. Traditionally diesel generation has served as the backup and a first step is to introduce a mix of biodiesel or a green renewable diesel.

Another key technology is battery energy storage, with the dual function of enabling participation in day-to-day demand response opportunities to alleviate congestion on the grid and serve as a backup in the case of an outage.

For example, if the grid is subject to very high power demand, such as during a heat wave, data centres can use their microgrid systems to reduce load on the grid, improving overall grid flexibility. When this battery system is charged with renewable energy, it emits zero carbon during operation. When there is a surplus in renewable supply, instead of curtailing the production, this surplus can be used to charge the battery storage.

Energy efficiency is another area of opportunity for data centres. As an example, waste heat is being used increasingly to help heat nearby buildings or to supply industrial heat users, reducing the energy use from other sources. For efficient data centre operation, all energy flows should be managed from a central automated platform.

These are three of the many examples of how the latest digital innovations and other technologies are delivering the grids of the future to accelerate the integration of clean and renewable energies and large-scale electrification across sectors.

Read Part 1 of this 3-part series: Renewable energies for the grid of the future
Read Part 2 of this 3-part series: Renewable energies – the transmission and distribution enablers