Faraday Grid trial could “redefine the electricity grid”

Posted: October 23, 2018 by oldbrew in innovation
Tags: electricity, renewables

[credit: green lantern electric]

The sales pitch is that this technology “has the potential to double the amount of renewable generation a grid can carry.” But the chronic intermittency of renewables remains, so the prospect of carrying more from them is a double-edged sword in terms of grid reliability.

A new grid technology is to go on trial in London in a project that could “redefine how the electricity grid works”, reports PEI.

Scotland-based company Faraday Grid has signed a deal with British distribution network operator UK Power Networks for it to trial its potentially ground-breaking technology, also called Faraday Grid.

Ian Cameron, head of innovation at UK Power Networks, said he recognised that “Faraday’s technology has the potential to be transformational for distribution networks and the wider energy system”.

The Faraday Grid is an autonomous, self-balancing network installed within an existing electricity grid. It comprises a network of independent autonomous hardware devices called Faraday Exchangers which operate in isolation and are independent of any central network management.

As such, the exchanger is designed to replace the function of existing electricity network infrastructure such as transformers, converters, inverters and rectifiers.

Faraday Grid says its technology “is designed to automatically smooth the intermittency and volatility of renewable generation and new demands like electric vehicles, and reduce the need for backup generation and balancing services. Implemented at scale, it has the potential to double the amount of renewable generation a grid can carry.”

Continued here.