Smarter energy storage a win-win for operators and consumers
Pamoja Cleantech and a cluster of partners, among them Indian companies Madhav Engineers and Sustain Impact, have been granted financial support through the call on smart grids for the future, financed by the Swedish Energy Agency and the Department of Science and Technology, Government of India.
The partners receive support for the project “AI- and IoT-based distributed energy resource management for smart energy storage and automated demand management”. The goal of the project is the development and commercial demonstration of four market-driven energy management system, EMS, in two Swedish and two Indian-led pilot projects in collaboration with first customers.
“We will be using Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to improve grid reliability and efficiency. This will reduce operation and maintenance cost for the low-voltage grid for the operators and electricity costs for the consumers, says Nicolas Fouassier,” project manager at Pamoja.
Optimizing stored energy
The EMS that Pamoja has developed as part of the project controls and optimizes the use of battery energy storage system, BESS, located at the transformer level. The EMS will use Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning to control the charging and discharging of the BESSs based on parameters such as peak- or off-peak hours, transformer load, energy sources or electricity market prices.
“From the customers’ point of view, Pamoja Cleantech’s smart EMS will reduce the electricity costs, and will also improve power quality and reliability which are often problematic in India,” says Nicolas Fouassier.
Longer life of DTs
Another goal is to help the Indian grid owner BSES Rajdhani Power Limited, BRPL, to get the most out of their distribution transformers, DT, and to prolong their lifespan by 10 years.
“BRPL is expecting pre-mature capacity limitations in the next decade at a majority of distribution transformers due to growing load demand expected at 3–10 percent per year. By using real-time transformer rating and short-term load forecasting, Pamoja’s smart EMS will avoid reaching DT capacity limitations and will increase its efficiency. Our solution will therefore help BRPL to get the most out of their DTs for the longest time and the replacement of transformers can be deferred by up to 10 years,” Fouassier explains.
At the transformer level, the DT peak load can be shifted from on-peak to off-peak hours by using energy from the BESS during the peak load hours. By leveraging smart forecasting and flexible charging of the BESS, Pamoja’s smart EMS can reduce up to 30% of DT peak load.
International project
The project is a sub-project within the international project ANDROYDS. It is carried out together with a consortium of Swedish partners Pamoja Cleantech AB, Modio AB and KTH. Indian organizations in the project are Madhav Engineers, Sustain Impact, Gujarat Power Research and Development Cell, The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), IIT Gandhinagar and the University of Lucknow.
