Many citizens of European countries may soon experience a long and extensive blackout. The lack of predictability in the output of renewable energy sources, aggravating the problem of consistently matching supply with demand on electric grids, along with cyber-attacks or even worse unpredictable incidents in the electric grid are some factors that may mean a blackout is much more likely than in previous years. This paper covers the possibility of an extensive blackout in a country of the interconnected European electricity transmission system or, even worse, a blackout in a wide area of the European continent. The topic of this paper becomes even more important and timely given the energy crisis due to the war in Ukraine, which has made the possibility of a blackout in the winter of 2022–2023 high. First, the major European blackouts that occurred in the past 20 years are presented, examining their causes. On 8 January 2021, the European electricity grid was divided into two separate sections, with different frequencies; some additional scenarios are considered which, if they had happened, could have led to blackouts in some European countries or, even worse, a wide area of Europe. This work also examines how to avoid such an eventuality, as well as how European TSOs should react in case a blackout occurs. Focused on the fast and reliable supply of consumers after a blackout, a novel restoration strategy based on the A* Algorithm is presented. Its efficiency is validated in the IEEE-39 and IEEE-68 bus systems.

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Risks in the European Transmission System and a Novel Restoration Strategy for a Power System after a Major Blackout

An interconnection of electric power networks enables decarbonization of the electricity system by harnessing and sharing large amounts of renewable energy. The highest potential renewable energy areas are often far from load centers, integrated through long-distance transmission interconnections. The transmission interconnection mitigates the variability of renewable energy sources by importing and exporting electricity between neighbouring regions. This paper presents an overview of regional and global energy consumption trends by use of fuel. A large power grid interconnection, including renewable energy and its integration into the utility grid, and globally existing large power grid interconnections are also presented. The technologies used for power grid interconnections include HVAC, HVDC (including LCC, VSC comprising of MMC-VSC, HVDC light), VFT, and newly proposed FASAL are discussed with their potential projects. Future trends of grid interconnection, including clean energy initiatives and developments, UHV AC and DC transmission systems, and smart grid developments, are presented in detail. A review of regional and global initiatives in the context of a sustainable future by implementing electric energy interconnections is presented. It presents the associated challenges and benefits of globally interconnected power grids and intercontinental interconnectors. Finally, in this paper, research directions in clean and sustainable energy, smart grid, UHV transmission systems that facilitate the global future grid interconnection goal are addressed.

Electric Power Network Interconnection: A Review on Current Status, Future Prospects and Research Direction

• A cutting-edge bibliometric analysis is adopted in this literature review on Distributed Generation (DG) technologies. • Highlights aspects of DG technologies for sustainable energy development. • Unravels publishing patterns and the underlying technology trends and advances that influence these trends. • An increasing number of entities are interested in or actively participating in the green energy revolution and its related technologies. • Previous research on system performance and optimization has built a solid conceptual framework for this research domain. This study explores how data mining may be used to uncover patterns and trends in the area of distributed generation (DG). It employs the usage of the bibliometric approach. Bibliometric analysis is an increasingly common and rigorous approach for analysing huge datasets in the scientific community. It explains the evolution of a given discipline while highlighting new developments in the sector. To this purpose, this research examines the link between publishing patterns and the underlying technology trends and advances that influence these trends. Also included are key advances in the most recent findings in DG's research. The review finds that past research on system performance and optimization has built a solid conceptual framework for this research domain. The incorporation of new technologies, and the consideration of sustainability issues, are additional areas of concern. The overall strategy and methodologies utilized in this study may be applied to a wide range of research disciplines. Researchers will benefit from this study as a guide for future studies on DG integrating concerns. 

Exploring distributed energy generation for sustainable development: A data mining approach

The stochastic behavior of PV together with high PV penetration have given rise to power quality concerns involving voltage dynamic issues such as undervoltage, overvoltage, sag and swell. To ensure the grid’s stability, various methods have been practiced such as a proper sizing of the grid lines and the installation of power quality compensation equipment. However, these measures often require high costs and high control complexity due to additional equipment being involved such as multiple transformers and inverters. Moreover, the current available reactive power compensation equipment has a lesser impact on distribution level networks. Therefore, this work proposes a hybrid control of grid-feeding mode and energy storage with Direct Current (DC) fault detection scheme utilizing fuzzy control to mitigate high PV penetration problems, PV intermittency and faults via active power compensation to maintain the system’s voltage within its nominal range. This hybrid control works on two mode of operations: strategic power dispatch by the grid-feeding mode to solve under and overvoltage caused by inconsistent PV generation. Meanwhile, the utilization of fuzzy control aims to solve PV intermittency and line faults. The novel hybrid control has proven its capability to solve voltage dynamic problems caused by high PV penetration, intermittency and faults in the network within a shorter timeframe.

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Hybrid Control of Grid-Feeding and Fuzzy Logic Fault Detection in Solving Voltage Dynamic Problem within the Malaysian Distribution Network

An auto-restoration tool to minimize the impact of faults is one of the critical requirements in a power distribution system. A fault-monitoring system is needed for practical remote supervision to identify faults and reduce their impacts, and thus reduce economic losses. An effective fault-monitoring system is beneficial to improve the reliability of a protection system when faults evolve. Therefore, fault monitoring could play an important role in enhancing the safety standards of systems. Among the various fault occurrences, the transient fault is a prominent cause in Malaysia power systems but gains less attention due to its ability of self-clearance, although sometimes it unnecessarily triggers the operation of protection systems. However, the transient fault is an issue that must be addressed based on its effect that can lead to outages and short-circuits if prolonged. In this study, the authors summarize the guidelines and related standards of fault interaction associated with a monitoring system. The necessity of transient fault detection and location techniques and their limitations, the need for signal processing, as well as recommended practices, are also discussed in this paper. Some of the practices from local power utility are also shared, indicating the current approaches, key challenges, and the opportunities for improvement of fault-monitoring systems due to transient fault, which can be correlated with the reviews provided.

Transient Fault Detection and Location in Power Distribution Network: A Review of Current Practices and Challenges in Malaysia

Electric supply is listed as one of the basic amenities of sustainable development in Malaysia. Under this key contributing factor, the sustainable development goal aims to ensure universal access to an affordable, clean, and reliable energy service. To support the generation capacity in years to come, distributed generation is conceptualized through stages upon its implementation in the power system network. However, the rapid establishment growth of distributed generation technology in Malaysia will invoke power quality problems in the current power system network. In order to prevent this, the current government is committed to embark on the development of renewable technologies with the assurance of maintaining the quality of power delivered to consumers. Therefore, this research paper will focus on the review of the energy prospect of both fossil fuel and renewable energy generation in Malaysia and other countries, followed by power quality issues and compensation device under a high renewable penetration distribution network. The issues and challenges of distributed generation are presented, with a comprehensive discussion and insightful recommendation on future work of the distributed generation. In accordance with the addressed highlights in this paper, it would serve as the criterion on upcoming revolution of distributed generation integrated along with the traditional network in Malaysia.

https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/13/24/6479/pdf

Distributed Generation: A Review on Current Energy Status, Grid-Interconnected PQ Issues, and Implementation Constraints of DG in Malaysia

This paper proposed two PWM control scheme which is the Voltage Oriented Control (VOC) and Direct Power Control (DPC) on a heavy loaded LV-distribution network with photovoltaic (PV) integration in Malaysia. The surge in demand of power supply is overcome by deploying more PV to fulfil the load demand. However, this could give rise to power quality issues that can affect the stability of the grid. The focus in this work is to solve voltage dynamic concern which results in over and undervoltage problems within the distribution network and at the same time to evaluate on the performance of both control schemes under a heavy loaded condition. A 33 kV Malaysian LV-Distribution model integrated with PV is constructed to serve as a base model in this paper. From the base model, a load flow analysis is conducted in order to locate the weakest bus. The two proposed control schemes are introduced into the weakest bus in the grid system, and its performance of the controller will be evaluated based on three aspects such as compensation margin, voltage and current total harmonics distortion (vTHD and iTHD) and lastly the compensated voltage levels. It is shown that VOC control scheme has outperformed DPC due to a wider compensation margin and its ability to achieve the desired reference voltage with a faster settling time under heavy loaded condition. Therefore, the proposed PWM control scheme of both VOC and DPC under a heavy load scenario could be set as a benchmark to provide impactful insights and findings towards an actual implementation of the application within a distribution network or distributed generation.

Voltage Oriented Control and Direct Power Control Strategies in solving under and overvoltage conditions for heavy load application on Malaysian Distribution Representative Network

The lithium-ion battery (LIB) is widely used as an energy storage device for electric vehicles (EV) due to its advantages, such as high energy density and long lifespan. However, LIB for EV can be exposed to mechanical abuse such as vehicle collision, which causes thermal runaway due to extreme mechanical deformation. Therefore, it is necessary to predict the internal short circuit (ISC) of the LIB cell under mechanical loading conditions and to analyze the mechanical, electrical, and thermal responses after ISC. In this paper, the starting point of ISC is predicted using a two-way mechanical-electrical-thermal coupled analysis method. At the same time, mechanical responses, along with the effects of the ISC area on electrical and thermal responses of the LIB cell, were analyzed. ISC was defined as failure of the separator. The separator’s failure was calculated considering material nonlinearity. Considering the indentation test results, the finite element method (FEM) analysis could accurately predict the starting point of ISC. In the order of cylindrical, hemispherical, and conical indenters, ISC occurred quickly, and the ISC area was large. The larger the ISC area, the greater the voltage drop, current, and joule heat, and the higher the maximum temperature.

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Jun Yin Lee

Papers

Distributed Generation: A Review on Current Energy Status, Grid-Interconnected PQ Issues, and Implementation Constraints of DG in Malaysia

Voltage Oriented Control and Direct Power Control Strategies in solving under and overvoltage conditions for heavy load application on Malaysian Distribution Representative Network

Prediction of Internal Circuit and Mechanical-Electrical-Thermal Response of Lithium-Ion Battery Cell with Mechanical-Thermal Coupled Analysis

Energy storage systems: A review of its progress and outlook, potential benefits, barriers and solutions within the Malaysian distribution network