Renewable energies and grid stability... still an exciting topic. It seems to be difficult to reconcile the two!
We would like to inform you about a project supported by the EU funding programme HORIZON2020, which deals with the harmonization of inverter technology within "standard grids". The technology made available can make a significant contribution to increasing the proportion of renewable energy in the grid beyond 30% without the existing grids becoming unstable.
The international consortium that will implement the project consists of us, Q3, as well as the German company Solutronic Energy GmbH Unterensingen and the Israeli company Synvertec. The project started on 01.09.2016.
Synchronverter - Renewable energies meet grid stability
The proportion of energy generated from renewable sources in electricity grids is increasing worldwide. In order to sustainably reduce CO2 emissions and escape the disadvantages of nuclear energy, large industrialized nations in particular are increasingly turning to alternatives.
However, the electricity grids that have evolved over decades are designed exclusively for generators that feed in energy in the form of alternating current. However, electricity generated from renewable sources is largely connected to the existing grid via electronic converter technology. Due to the increasing share of this technology, the grid increasingly lacks the flywheel mass of the generators, which keep the grid stable in the event of natural fluctuations. From a share of approx. 30% of electricity generated from renewable sources, it can therefore be assumed that a grid will lose considerable stability. A comprehensive and uninterrupted supply of electricity will then no longer be possible.
Synchronverter solves this problem! Thanks to a highly complex algorithm, an inverter with synchronous converter technology can behave as if it were a classic generator with flywheel mass. As a result, the grid regains stability and the share of renewable generators can be further increased without hesitation. This paves the way for a future in which the majority of electricity can be produced and distributed cleanly, safely and in a way that conserves resources.
Synchronverter - the consortium behind it
The actual synchronverter algorithm was developed by the Israeli company Synvertec as part of a research program supported by "HORIZON2020" and successfully brought to the prototype stage. In a further EU-funded project, the algorithm is being tested in practice together with the two German companies Solutronic Energy GmbH and Q3 ENERGIE GmbH & Co. KG, integrated into conventional PV inverters, and presented and marketed worldwide as a product.
Further information can be found at www.synchronverter.eu.
