Towards a Real-World University Campus Micro-Grid

The country's energy demand has been increasing at a rate of 7% annually from 2012 to 2017, with buildings accounting for over 28% of electricity consumption. The Moroccan government estimates that up to 15% of energy consumption can be saved by introducing energy efficiency measures. The university campus micro-grid (MG) is a building block of the smart grid, designed to reduce deployment and management complexity by adopting a divide and conquer approach. MGs can minimize energy loss and optimize demand/response variability through real-time tracking of energy production and consumption. The MG consists of distributed generation, distributed storage, interconnection switches, and control systems, acting as a single independent entity with regards to the grid. The MG testbed is located at Al Akhawayn University (AUI) in Ifrane, Morocco, and incorporates residential, industrial, and commercial load profiles. The primary purpose of the test site is to study and research optimal system infrastructure, accounting for campus constraints, allowing for an optimal operation of the campus MG. The MG testbed developed model and architecture can be easily used by other researchers in the domain to adapt it for a better fitting into their own environment. The adopted methodology for the MG testbed includes an overview of energy use at AUI, identifying MG components, site assessment, feasibility study and dimensioning, and MG architecture. The AUI university campus is made up of a mix of classrooms, lecture theatres, offices, computer rooms, labs, restaurant, gymnasium, stadium, swimming pool, laundry, and residences, with a total of 39 buildings and a net floor area of over 40,000 m2. The campus has an energy use intensity of 534 KWh/m2per-yr and is located in the fourth Moroccan climatic zone with 5600 heating hours. The campus MG incorporates renewable energy sources, including photovoltaic, solar water heating, wind, and hydrogen storage, as well as heat pumps, biomass boiler, gasoline, olive pet boiler, and gasoil generators. The MG architecture includes simulation of the testbed and real testbed implementation and operation. The results and conclusions of the MG testbed will provide a software solution that analyzes the current status and predicts potential failures in the power supply network, and will demonstrate the interaction between the centralized and local control. The MG operation is mainly based on theories of operations, control, protection, security, and communications. Current research on MG focuses on integration of different architectures to the distribution system, communication system, energy resource, and storage, as well as study of the dynamic behavior of the MG, analysis of the transition from grid-connected mode to island mode, real-time demand response and management of intermittent energy resources, and usage and study of different storage technologies. The MG testbed will provide a platform for researchers to study and research optimal system infrastructure, accounting for campus constraints, allowing for an optimal operation of the campus MG. The MG testbed developed model and architecture can be easily used by other researchers in the domain to adapt it for a better fitting into their own environment. The MG operation will be optimized via algorithms to maximize energy savings, minimize related costs and emissions, and ensure more reliable, flexible, and adaptive monitoring and control of power systems.