The KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence research team on power system has developed an integrated photovoltaic-flywheel based storage system in the KIOS laboratory facilities for enhancing the grid-friendly deployment of renewable energy sources in smart buildings, within the framework of the European research project “ENHANCE”.
Specifically, the KIOS CoE power systems research team has developed a software platform that integrates the key components of a green building (i.e., photovoltaics, flywheel storage system, smart meters, and flexible loads) to online manage and optimize its operation within the smart grid framework. Through this platform, a smooth interaction between the building and the grid is achieved, while the building is able to provide ancillary services (i.e., peak-shaving, constant power exchange) that can facilitate an increase of the hosting capacity regarding the installation of photovoltaics within a distribution grid.
Towards this direction, a low-cost monitoring tool has been developed within the “ENHANCE” project to forecast the generation from photovoltaics, based on machine learning techniques. The forecasting results enable the integration of an intelligent real-time optimization method, implemented within the software platform, in order to manage the entire operation of the building in a cost-effective way, while also allowing the operation of flywheel as a community storage system. Furthermore, a smart inverter is developed within this framework that exploits the flexible capabilities of the flywheel in order to enable the provision of optimal voltage and frequency support adequate for distribution grids.
The developed prototype system allows for the widespread dissemination of photovoltaic energy, resulting in a reduction of CO2 emissions and thus positively affecting the environment.
The “ENHANCE” project is a joint collaboration between the KIOS CoE and thee industrial partners: Eletoyia from Cyprus, Chakratec Ltd and PowerCom from Israel. It was funded by the 7th Framework Program of the European Union (SOLAR-ERA.NET) through the Research and Innovation Foundation of Cyprus and the Ministry of National Energy and Water Infrastructures of Israel.
The research team in Cyprus was led by the late Prof. Elias Kyriakides and by Prof. Christos Panayiotou, and is complemented by the Research Lecturer Lenos Hadjidemetriou, Prof. Stelios Timotheou, Dr. Yiannis Tofis, Charalambos Charalambous, Anastasis Charalamabous, Lysandros Tziovani, Maria Savva, and Maria Tziakouri.
