Technische Universität Ilmenau is researching innovative ways to adapt the German power grid to the requirements of the energy transition. In a joint project led by the University of Bremen, the Institute of Mathematics at TU Ilmenau is investigating how local grid areas that supply only a limited number of consumers – so-called "neighbourhood grids" – can be integrated as efficiently as possible into the overall interconnected grid. The aim is to ensure that the neighbourhood grids minimize their costs and that the distribution grids function stably at the same time.The aim of the Int2Grids research project is to use newly developed methods to ensure a reliable, stable energy supply despite fluctuations in power generation and disruptions in the power grid.
With the expansion of renewable energies, the energy supply is increasingly organized close to the consumer and thus decentralized. This has advantages for consumers; for example, a farm that produces part of its own energy requirements with a local photovoltaic system can feed surpluses into the interconnected grid and reduce its own electricity costs. However, the decentralization of energy supply also brings challenges, as the supply of neighbourhood grids is inherently more susceptible to faults and more expensive.
As part of the research project "Integration of smart neighbourhood grids into interconnected grids: investigating the influence of uncertainties for the development of robust multi-objective optimisation (Int2Grids)", Prof. Gabriele Eichfelder, a mathematician at TU Ilmenau, is exploring completely new ways of integrating "smart" neighbourhood grids into interconnected grids. To this end, she analyzes interactions between competing goals and searches for the best possible solutions. In this way, different alternatives can be identified and evaluated that allow an optimal balance between goals such as low costs, high efficiency, and stable energy supply. In addition, it investigates the influence of uncertainties on grid operation – in particular, fluctuations in power generation caused by the increasing use of volatile, i.e. subject to fluctuations, energy producers such as wind power or solar energy. The aim of the joint project is to reduce the effects of such fluctuations and disturbances on grid operation and thus to increase grid stability. In this way, the project contributes to an environmentally friendly, reliable and affordable energy supply.
As part of the Int2Grids research project, the scientists are modelling a simulated distribution grid, including neighbourhood grids, on which they are testing and evaluating different optimization solutions. The main focus of the Institute of Mathematics at TU Ilmenau is to mathematically model the uncertainties that occur, i.e. the effects of fluctuations, and to include them in the optimization process. If the uncertainties mentioned were not taken into account, the optimization results would not be reliable in the case of fluctuations. The susceptibility to disturbances could add up and thus lead to an unwanted destabilization of the network. Instead, taking into account all uncertainties in both the consumption and generation of electricity in the neighbourhood networks, the aim is to guarantee a stable grid.
In addition to the TU Ilmenau, the OFFIS – Institute for Information Technology Oldenburg, IAV GmbH, one of the world's leading engineering service providers to the automotive industry, and EWE Netz GmbH, an operator of, among other things, electricity grids, are involved in the Int2Grids project under the scientific leadership of the University of Bremen. The project of the TU Ilmenau is funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy with more than 200,000 euros for three years.
Contact:
Prof. Gabriele Eichfelder
Head of "Mathematical Methods in Operations Research"
+49 3677 69-3628
gabriele.eichfelder@tu-ilmenau.de
