In this part of the coursework, you are required to carry out a comparative review of existing software tools for the modelling and optimisation of the configuration of microgrids.
engineering
Description
Coursework brief
1. In this part of the coursework, you are required to carry out a comparative review of existing software tools for the modelling and optimisation of the configuration of microgrids. The criteria to be used for the evaluation and comparison of software tools is your choice, but the comparative review should conclude with a justified recommendation of the best overall tool given your selected criteria. You should review at least two different software tools (two examples of such tools include HOMER and DER-CAM).
2. This part of the coursework consists of a microgrid design that is unique to your coursework. Here you should decide upon the following:
a. Purpose of the microgrid (to supply an isolated village, a hospital, a set of University buildings, a datacentre, a military base, etc).
b. Type of microgrid (grid connected or standalone)
c. Location of the microgrid
d. Demand profile characteristics including variability if applicable
e. Types of energy sources to be considered for use in the microgrid and their profile (e.g. sun irradiance data, wind speed data, etc)
f. Specific equipment sizes and quantities of equipment items to be considered
g. Other equipment to be used (such as battery storage)
h. All relevant cost information, including equipment costs, maintenance and operations costs, residual values, fuel costs, interest rate, electricity tariffs, etc.
i. Method and criteria to be used to optimise the configuration, including the choice of a software tool. Here the software tool could be generic (such as MATLAB or Excel), or it could be specialised (such as HOMER)
You should discuss in your report the main qualities and any limitations of the resulting
design. You can use information from the scientific or commercial literature, as well as online
tools, to define items such as the demand profile, equipment characteristics, resource
information, but you must not copy all the details of an existing design case study on
microgrid configuration (published or not), nor should you use an example previously seen in
class. In other words, your design needs to be unique to your report and not previously done
by anyone else.
