by: Paul Asiimwe, workshop participant
Aktuelles
Optimizing SEED Living Labs: Illuminating sustainable energy solutions at Mini-Grid Workshop
Prashant Pant introduced us, the 15 participants, to Fundamentals of Micro-grid Design and Optimization, where we aimed to understand from the grassroots the foundations of micro-grids, the micro-grid design process up-to design validation with the aid of simulation software such as Pandapowers (open-source) and other commercial software such as DigiSilent PowerFactory. We crowned off Day One with an understanding of power flow analysis while looking at different power flow models and use cases, building an excellent knowledge of a standard micro-grid control structure.
On Day 1, we built a foundation for optimization, i.e., looking at what we would optimize and the different variables at play. On Day 2, we delved further into the fundamentals of Optimization for Power Systems, looking at both Linear and Non-Linear Optimization and the different optimization solvers such as Simplex algorithm-based solvers, Interior point/ barrier methods, Genetic algorithms, PSO, bilinear translation. Our instructor challenged us with a couple of exercises to concretize our learnings, for example, on topics such as convex functions, proving the convexity of linear functions, and the non-convexity of MILP. Seeing that this is often a tricky topic, difficult to digest from the get-go, Prashant innovatively brought us up to speed regarding optimization through various examples that would help drive the point home. Moreover, we were already doing hands-on exercises with optimization solvers such as Gurobi at this stage. We crowned off Day 2 with a complete understanding of robust optimization for power systems. We continued to do real-world examples the following day with open-source tools such as Pandapower. We also replicated all we had learned in the living lab micro-grids at our home universities.
All in all, the workshop was impactful knowledge-wise, especially with various teaching methods such as classroom, individual, and group exercises, field visits to review existing implementations of what was taught in class, and finally, a follow-up assignment. We appreciate the opportunity to collectively understand global access to energy challenges and address them with various experts from all over the Global South.
