Renewable and Sustainable Energy Technology - International ...

The International Experience24• The need for new power lines to connect up turbines - both in areas of weak gridcapacity and for large offshore parks• The other is for ‘smart’ solutions to the way in which wind farms integrate with the network.Up until now wind farms have just been connected to the grid rather than integrated intothe grid. To this end controlling the power flow has been impossible. Power electronics orsophisticated communications systems could be used to create ‘intelligent grids’. 11The need for infrastructure investments is not based only on wind energy; grid extensions,grid reinforcement and increased backup capacity benefit all system users. An integratedapproach to future decisions is needed in Europe, as in Australia, regarding the grid.Future Electricity GridsThe vision for grids:• Renewable Energy Sources and Distributed Generation will be fully integrated in theelectricity system.• Users will become both producers and consumers.• The power grid will look like the internet.• Distributed decision making, self-healing, bi-directional flows at all levels, etc.• Loads will become more flexible• Real-time prices for most users, smart appliances and other loads reactive to networkconditions and price variations.• Smart electronic meters will bring new services.• All this is to be achieved while maintaining high quality and reliability.Wind farms and all other renewable energy producers must be integrated with the network,not just connected to it. 12wwww.smartgrids.euwwww.smartgrids.eu11 www.smartgrids.eu12 EWEA large scale integration of wind energy in the European power supply