The field of the flexibility of electricity networks, which deals with the adjustment of electricity production and consumption, will be most likely addressed during the transition to electricity production with renewable sources also for low-voltage electricity consumers – households. Certain devices or electrical consumers in households, such as air conditioners, boilers, washing machines, and dishwashers should be converted into flexible consumers, which would be able to adjust their power state to off in the event of an overloaded power grid from which they are powered. This would be an effective way to relieve the overloaded power grid for the needed time.
Overloaded power grid problems often occur in the quarter Azimmo Ouaga, which is located in the capital city of Ouagadougou of the country Burkina Faso, for which we are working through the LEAP-RE project (Long-term Europe-Africa Partnership on Renewable Energy). We developed a solution that reduces the overloading states of the power grid to the level, where sudden automatic power grid shutdowns would no longer be necessary. One of the most important project requirements is an economically affordable solution.
Among the most suitable flexible electrical consumers in Azimmo Ouaga were air conditioners. By rewiring and connecting the power cable to the smart socket electrical circuit, we managed to get information about the power consumption of the air conditioner and control over its operating mode - power on or power off. The devices then needed to be connected through software and communication protocols to the cloud platform, where the algorithms for calculating the production and consumption of electric energy and algorithms that plan the operating mode - power on or power off of individual devices are located.
We realized that in this way we can effectively help to adjust the production and consumption of electricity at the household level.
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