energy

with
MES
This new programme - which is part of
a major government push to help the
grid cope with two-way generation
and involves several companies, such
as Schneider Electric, Western Power
Distribution, Anvil Semiconductors, Turbo
Power Systems, Aston University and
Exception EMS - will improve the grid
energy infrastructure and is also expected
to increase the use of EVs to over
six million by 2023.
The numbers
Estimates vary significantly, but there may
be as many as 1.2 million EVs on the road,
plus 350,000 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles
(PHEVs) on UK roads by 2020 – as long as
the all-important charging infrastructure (or
a large part of it) is in place by then. Other
estimates are significantly lower, but it is
clear that there will be far more EVs on the
UK’s roads than now for carmakers to meet
their increasingly onerous CO2
emissions targets.
Looking at domestic solar PV installations,
from almost zero, this technology has now
been deployed on well over half a million
buildings, with total installed capacity in
2014 exceeding 4 GWp.
While the UK already has a legally binding
EU obligation for 15% of its energy to come
from renewables by 2020, as the sector
drives the cost of solar PV down towards
grid parity, there is the potential to install up
to 20 GWp of solar PV early
in the next decade.
Indeed, the Solar Trades Association
said as much new capacity was
installed in the first three months
of 2015 as in the whole of 2014 –
though this included large-scale
solar PV as well as domestic
and business. The government
has said that there are now
650,000 solar installations in
the UK, including 10 million
panels on homes.
But whatever the actual
figures turn out to be
by 2020, it is clear
that the extra twoway
demand for
electricity on the UK grid means that it will
have to become significantly ‘smarter’.
Distribution network operators (DNOs) are
facing significant challenges in modernising
existing infrastructures, and investing in
smart technologies, to cope with this
transformation. This Government project is
just one way of addressing the issues.
Higher network voltage
One way of improving the capacity
of the UK’s existing residential energy
infrastructure is by increasing the local
network voltage. This approach will allow
the grid to deliver different voltages
simultaneously for varying requirements.
The project, trialed on Western Power
Distribution’s residential network, aims to
boost the capacity of an existing residential
energy network, at low cost, by installing
high-performance power electronic
converters (PECs) into individual properties’
meter-boxes, and there will also be a local
sub-station converter for distributing at
400V. To keep costs low, these PECs will
make innovative use of silicon carbide
(SiC) switching devices made utilising Anvil
Semiconductor’s SiC-on silicon technology.
SiC can sustain much higher voltages
(almost 10 times) compared with silicon
but, to date, silicon carbide switches
have been prohibitively expensive to
manufacture. This project should, if
successful, obviate the problem.
From generation to use, power and
electronic semiconductor devices are
employed in the control, conversion
and switching of electric power. Their
efficiency is key in reducing the power
required by any system or product in a
host of applications including consumer
electronics, LEDs, EVs and trains, industrial
motors, aircraft, ships, commercial premises
and data centres.
Other benefits include achieving efficient
generation of power, particularly with
the increase in renewables such as solar
PV, wind and tidal - as well as delivering
efficient distribution, control and conversion
of power from many sources
via the ‘smart grid’. ■
2016 | ISSUE 03 Smart Electrician 23