PV-Diesel-Global: SMA and project partners launch research project into sustainable energy solutions for off-grid regions
The goal behind the newly launched joint research project “PV-Diesel-Global” is to advance the energy transition in off-grid regions. SMA and its project partners – the Institute of Building & Energy Systems at the Biberach University of Applied Sciences, Reutlingen University, the Fraunhofer Institute for Energy Economics and Energy System Technology in Kassel as well as WRD/Enercon Aurich, DUTrain and battery storage manufacturer TESVOLT – are exploring the possibilities of practical system solutions for supplying energy and integrating off-grid solutions into the grid. The aim is to do away almost completely with diesel fuel in the large stand-alone grids around the world that are still supplied using diesel power plants and replace this with solar and wind energy instead. The project is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Thanks to the use of reliable and intelligent system solutions in diesel hybrid power plants around the earth’s sunbelt, a large proportion of the diesel fuel currently used can be replaced with renewable energies. Due to the favorable conditions for generating solar and wind power and the expense of transporting diesel, these solutions offer highly attractive economic opportunities.
“Our solutions for PV-diesel hybrid projects with and without battery-storage systems are already providing a reliable supply of sustainable electricity in many regions around the world and stabilizing the transmission lines,” said project manager Thorsten Buelo, a system development engineer at SMA. “Just like on the Caribbean island of St. Eustatius, which already covers all its supply requirements with renewable energies,” said Christian Hardt, system architect at SMA. “Future PV-diesel hybrid systems will help further reduce the cost of solar power generation and increase the share of renewable energies. In the PV-Diesel-Global project, we – together with our partners – are working on optimizing the efficiency, reliability and application scope of PV-hybrid power plants and making them future-proof.”
The shared goal of the PV-Diesel-Global joint research project is to optimize PV power plant, wind farm and grid technology with a view to achieving stable grid operation and a sustainable electricity supply with a high level of demand met by solar power in large stand-alone utility grids. Building on the successful results of the previous joint research project PV-Diesel, the PV-Diesel-Global research project seeks to enhance the system solutions and components developed as part of that earlier project. At the same time, and with the incorporation of wind energy, they are to be expanded with new and highly robust large-scale storage battery systems and innovative off-grid solutions for spatially distributed grid feed-in. The PV-Diesel-Global joint research project is scheduled to run for three years and has received €2.8 million in funding from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Source: SMA Solar