Design and Development of High Efficiency Hybrid System for Distributed Energy (HSDE)
Alternate energy systems are under increasingly high demand to minimize our dependence on oil imports, reduce significant capital investments for newer centralized power generating units, reduce environmental pollution, and reduce the risk of complete blackout in the event of cascaded power system failures. Theproposed project aims to contribute to the integration and strengthening of Egyptian research on Renewable Energy Sources and associated power converters, controllers and combined use. The proposal is a step forward in securing a leading role for Egypt in sustainable energy systems, strategically important to some Program objectives: large scale implementation of distributed energy resources, energy storage technologies and systems for grid connected applications. It is focused on the development of key enabling technologies for distributed/smart energy networks, with high power quality and service security. Alternate energy systems are also more vital for portable equipment, especially those used in military and aerospace applications where there is no way to connect to the grid and a reliable and renewable source of energy becomes a matter of success or failure or even life or death. Other important applications are the electric and hybrid-electric vehicle systems.
The technical issues to be coordinated are concerned with solar, wind and micro-hydro systems control in conjunction with compensatory energy storage systems (fuel cells, hydrogen). The main challenges to such systems including cost, as compared to conventional energy systems, which are primarily due to the energy sources cost and their power electronic interface systems, which are about 40 percent of the present state-of-the-art commercial design cost. Other challenges are the durability and energy-conversion efficiency of the alternate sources that are greatly affected by the power-electronics part of the system.