DC microgrids can facilitate a low carbon economy

A sketch of a concept and its advantages

A reader has contributed a paper entitled ‘Re-inventing the grid with your iPhone’. The paper pictures, in broad lines, how the Alternating Current (AC) low voltage grid is a heritage from another era, and how the concept of Direct Current (DC) microgrids can contribute to the necessary transformation of the system.

The paper provides two main reasons why the historical choice for AC power is worth reconsidering. The first is to facilitate the connection of distributed renewable energy production to the grid. The second is the fact that a majority of the electrical applications in our buildings now work on DC power (electronic devices, Compact Fluorescent and LED lighting, motors with speed regulation, etcetera).

The introduction of DC microgrids offers the following advantages:

• No energy losses due to AC/DC conversion
• Storage is made easier, since batteries are DC
• The connection of distributed generation units such as PV panels is made easier (no inverter needed, no synchronization required)
• Connection of battery powered electric vehicles is easier
• Increased reliability of the grid
• Grid management is made easier, since a part of the supply versus demand equation can be solved in the microgrid, where batteries of electric vehicles and laptops are used to counter short term variations

The change to DC-powered microgrids can be made gradually and does not require any technological breakthroughs.

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