Intelligent Interconnection of Operating Micro-grid and Irrigation System in Dharnai - A Rural Indian Scenario

This paper presents a flexible energy transfer algorithm for the pre-existing Indian rural micro-grid and the irrigation system. Dharnai, a small village in Jehanabad district, Bihar (25.0125N, 84.9792E) uses the Dharnai Microgrid system (DMG) for community electrification and its agricultural load is serviced by Dharnai Irrigation System (DIS). The irrigation load demand for the project lifetime of 20 years is modeled using climatic variations like evapotranspiration, rainfall and crop pattern. Since the DIS and DMG systems are not integrated the excess energy generated is rendered unused. The efficient utilization of excess energy is achieved by interconnecting the two systems as they are less than 2 km apart. In this paper, a smart energy transfer algorithm that can be implemented on pre-existing systems is developed to predict and transfer energy. The algorithm is made flexible and dynamic so that the efficiency of a preferred system can be boosted based on village community requirements. A relative efficiency increase in the overall system of 10.57% is obtained using the algorithm and on implementing preferential energy transfer, a relative efficiency increase of 7.8% and 13.05% is achieved in DIS and DMG respectively.