U of S team designing a grid for wind power
Extreme temperature swings prove to be major technological challenge
Electrical engineer Tony Chung is excited to tackle the real-world problems posed by making wind power a major part of Saskatchewan’s power grid.
“We need to have a reliable and sustainable power grid and this research focuses on developing the key smart grid technology,” Chung said.
Chung will lead a team of 19 students and researchers at the University of Saskatchewan over the next five years.
SaskPower aims to generate 50 per cent of power from renewable sources by 2030 largely using wind power — but it’s not so simple as building more turbines and plugging them into the existing system, Chung said.
“When we have high wind speed, we have high wind power,” he said. “We have no wind speed, then no wind power.”
The key is modernizing the system with smart grid technology, he said.
A smart grid uses modern sensor, communication and automation technology that’s flexible enough to handle a wide range of available energy.
That includes weather forecasting and knowing the amount of energy available in the coming hours, and a real time monitor of the system.
A sufficient reserve of power is also needed when the wind doesn’t blow and the sun doesn’t shine, as well as incentives to curb demand, he said.
Other countries have developed similar technology during the past decade, but Saskatchewan’s grid has to be specially designed to account for its extreme temperature swings, he said.
The research will also help the broader Canadian power industry and the development of green energy, he said.
The research will be funded with $1.14 million over five years from the federal Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and a matching $1.14 million over five years from SaskPower through a previously announced $2.5-million, 10-year investment in Chung’s research program, the U of S said in a news release.