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Microgrids have proven popular in rural markets, but have also started to be picked up in urban areas to mitigate power outages. Image: Steama Co.
Open source foundation LF energy and Sony Computer Science Laboratories (Sony CSL) have launched a project to manage microgrids and automate peer-to-peer renewable energy distribution.
Called Hyphae, the project will distribute locally-produced renewable energy over a DC grid to be workable with AC Grids, aiming to make microgrids more resilient. The initiative builds on Sony CSL’s existing Autonomous Power Interchange System software, which works with distributed energy on DC grids. It is hoped the end result would be an interoperable microgrid that can be connected to the distribution network when necessary, but is also operational off-grid.
A typical microgrid. Courtesy of NREL.
With energy resources and infrastructure increasingly challenged to meet the coming impacts of climate change and natural disaster, Hyphae aims to make microgrids more resilient. It will do so by transitioning Sony CSL s existing software, Autonomous Power Interchange System (APIS), which automatically and efficiently distributes locally-produced renewable energy over a DC grid, to work with AC Grids. With resilient, peer-to-peer microgrid energy trading, even the most remote communities will be able to store and distribute energy autonomously without connecting to large-scale power stations or electrical distribution networks.
As the world races to develop and build microgrids that are resilient and flexible, an open-source, automated microgrid controller and peer-to-peer trading platform like Hyphae will allow for faster innovation while decreasing costs for everyone. Partnering with Sony CSL brings LF Energy closer to its goal of building
LF Energy, along with Sony Computer Science Laboratories, Inc., announced today “Hyphae,” a microgrid initiative to automate the peer-to-peer distribution of renewable energy.