UniCyprus-DGSF

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Distributed energy resources to Grid Smart Facility – University of Cyprus

TA52 – UniCyprus-DGSF 

Location

1 University Avenue 

1678 Nicosia, Cyprus

Description

The DER-GRID Smart Facility, located at the University of Cyprus | PHAETHON CoE, is a flexible and scalable research and development (R&D) facility that comprises of a state-of-the-art solar technology test infrastructure and a low voltage (LV) experimental nanogrid (living lab), aimed to test and demonstrate renewable and smart grid concepts. In particular, the facility provides complementary indoor and outdoor PV testing possibilities and advanced test-beds for testing grid integration technologies at an actual microgrid environment.

The fact that the facility combines the outdoor renewable and smart grid testing infrastructure to indoor real-time simulation test-beds and an energy analytic e-infrastructure, enables scientists to carry out high-quality research that extends to the highest technology readiness level (TRL). Specifically, the following services are offered by the infrastructure and its research environment:

  • Indoor and outdoor performance evaluation and characterisation of solar PV cells, modules and systems as per the requirements of IEC 61215.
  • Qualification testing/conformity assessment of PV according to diverse national standards and recommendations.
  • Verification and actual-environment demonstration of smart energy technologies and tools.
  • Testing renewable integration technologies against requirements of standards and grid codes.
  • Power quality (lab test/field monitoring) and impact evaluation of DER components on power quality (e.g., voltage levels and harmonics).
  • PV production forecasting (day- and hour-ahead) and energy analytics.
  • Smart grid and DER-oriented expertise and validation/testing activities.

Testing Capabilities

The facility supports testing, verification and demonstration actual-environment experiments in the following research areas:

  • Renewable energy sources (RES) with emphasis on solar energy.
  • Distributed generation and advanced flexibility technologies for electrical power systems.
  • Energy storage systems.
  • Smart electricity networks and energy management.
  • Artificial intelligence (AI) and energy analytics.
  • Real-time simulation (power- and control- hardware-in-the-loop testing) of smart grid technologies.

Technical Equipment

The following equipment is located within the facility:

  • Low-voltage nanogrid switchboard [switchboard with network analyzers and smart meters].
  • Environmental chambers for PV testing.
  • UV chamber for solar technology testing.
  • Solar simulator.
  • Electroluminescence test apparatus.
  • Real-time simulator microgrid test-bed.
  • PV system [35 kWp multi-crystalline Silicon PV system]
  • BIPV system [40 kWp mono-crystalline Silicon PV system].
  • Grid-connected test-bed smart inverters [3 and 5 kVA inverters]
  • AC and DC electronic loads [Load capacity of 10 kVA].
  • Solar-plus-storage test-bed [3 kW pV system with battery storage unit (Li-Ion)].
  • Battery storage unit (Li-NMC) with grid-forming inverter [Centralized battery storage system]

Additional information

Technology Readiness Level: 7 or above

Special considerations: N/A 

Technology clusters: Energy Storage, Hydrogen, Information and Communication Technologies, Integrated Grids, PV

Website: https://fosscy.eu/laboratories/pvtechnology-lab/DER-GRIDSmartFacility.html

Availability: All the year

Provision of tools to prepare data sets in a FAIR way:  Yes 

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