Smarter ways to provide grid connections for renewable generators

The growth in renewable and distributed generation is driving the gradual evolution of the methods used to plan and operate transmission and distribution networks. Smart Grid technologies in the area of Active Network Management (ANM) are expected to facilitate the increased connection of renewable and distributed generators to electricity networks in the near-term. Other Smart Grid technologies are expected to emerge over time to enable the transition to a low carbon economy. ANM schemes are emerging in the areas of power flow management and voltage management and are the subject of much international research and development. This paper provides an overview of the Orkney Smart Grid, which involves the application of a novel ANM scheme to enable increased renewable generator connections to the existing Orkney network. A review of ANM scheme performance to date and lessons learned from the development and deployment of a multiple generator, multiple network constraint ANM scheme is presented. In addition, the authors discuss the desirable characteristics and challenges for ANM schemes to achieve near-term deployment.