PhD defence - Haytham Aly Atteya Mohamed Mostafa

Candidate

Haytham Aly Atteya Mohamed Mostafa

Title

Zonal Energy Management and Optimization Systems for Smart Grid Applications

Supervisors

Salama, Magdy A. and El-Shatshat, Ramadan A.

Abstract

In the context of implementing the smart grid, electric energy consumption, generation resources, should be managed and optimized in a way that saves energy, improves efficiency, enhances reliability and maintains security while meeting the increasing demand at minimum operating cost. In order to achieve these objectives, there is a need to implement an efficient Zonal Energy Management and Optimization Systems (ZEMOS) that address both existing and future challenges possibly imposed by the use of renewable energy generators that lead to bi-directional power flow instead of unidirectional as in the traditional grids while operate in a coordinated way for the benefit of the whole electric grid. The proposed ZEMOS contains custom defined built-in functions in modular form, which could easily be integrated with other existing energy monitoring systems in the zone of interest (i.e. industrial facility, commercial centers, testing facility, sub-system of the utility service area, educational institutions, power plant, etc). The proposed ZEMOS provides functions that ensure energy saving, improved reliability, increased efficiency and enhanced utilization of distributed resources: generation energy storage and loads without compromising the tasks carried within that zone. Those module-based systems are characterized by their scalability and flexibility, since more functions can be added down the road as needed. This is necessary in order to accommodate the constant changes imposed by the smart grid and avoid the need to change the whole infrastructure. The proposed ZEMOS performance was investigated for study zones that involve single and multi-objective operations. Besides, study zones with more than single decision makers were also considered in this thesis. Accordingly, the implementation of ZEMOS satisfies the outlined objectives for specific study zone which leads to a reduction in greenhouse gas emission, the improvement of the energy generation portfolio, a reliance on the optimized renewable energy source and a reduction in the energy losses while ensuring high power quality. Furthermore, managing the energy consumption and optimizing the operation of such sizable zones (at Mega Watts scale) ensures significant economic benefits in terms of energy saving, better utilization of available resources, improving the efficiency of energy systems, and exporting novel smart grid technologies, which will lay the foundation to meet future challenges using existing infrastructure.