Distributed Small-Scale Power Plants for District Energy Application: Design and Implementation of Case Study in Brazil

This paper aims to present the design and implementation of technical solutions for the deployment of distributed power plants as a short-term viable approach for district energy applications. A distributed power plant can be considered an integrated system comprised of: (i) one or more small-scale energy resources (such as photovoltaic panels, microturbines and wind generators), allowing flexibility of power generation and increased power quality; (ii) energy storage systems; (iii) controllable local loads; (iv) communication technologies and (iv) control and energy management systems. Distributed power plants are based on the concept of microgrids. Specifically, this paper presents a case study of a small-scale distributed power plant, developed by the authors in Brazil. It consists of a 13.9kW pilot power plant, comprising: 5.7kW photovoltaic system, 2.6kW wind turbine, 5.5kW diesel generator and 10kWh of batteries, establishing a test bed where the concept of distributed power plant could be evaluated from the utilities’s point of view. Simulation and preliminary experimental results are present in this paper, including the operation of the pilot plant in both grid-connected and island mode, and the implementation of the energy management and demand response algorithms.