A crucial indicator of economic development is the amount of energy required to produce one unit of gross domestic product. For example, simply replacing incandescent bulbs with LEDs can reduce lighting costs by eight times. This is just one of many ways to improve energy efficiency.
The 21st century has brought significant progress in this area. According to the International Energy Agency, energy efficiency globally has increased by 13% compared to 2000. This means the savings are comparable to the total energy consumption of the European Union in one year. The positive effects include not only reduced fuel consumption but also environmental benefits and the creation of new jobs in the research sector of the economy.
For the extraction of minerals in areas inaccessible to the unified energy system, energy conservation is especially important. High fuel delivery costs significantly reduce the profitability of projects. This is, for example, one of the challenges faced by the accelerated development of the Arctic. However, progress continues. An important step was the introduction of multi-generator autonomous diesel power stations. These are assembled from several generators connected in parallel. During peak load periods, the entire system is engaged, and when consumption decreases, some of the generators go into reserve and reduce their load.
The operation of the entire system in such modes becomes inefficient, so the next step in the development of energy-saving technologies is the integration of wind turbines and solar panels, that is, renewable energy sources (RES), with diesel stations, using a battery. Such hybrid stations are still relatively rare, especially in Russia. The issue lies in the difficulty of creating an effective control algorithm. The need for such developments is highly relevant, especially since the production of key types of equipment for these stations has already been localized in Russia. Domestic wind generators are produced by one of the subsidiaries of Rosatom, while solar panels are made by the company Hevel from Chuvashia. It is only necessary to integrate all of this into a reliable and efficient autonomous energy system.
A successful development of this kind has been presented and patented by scientists at the Digital Technologies Center of Empress Catherine II Saint Petersburg Mining University. This is a response to the needs of the university’s industrial partners, who have repeatedly pointed out the obvious problem: to ensure the reliability of power supply to hard-to-reach sites, oversized diesel stations are used.
An original algorithm based on fuzzy logic methods has helped achieve very high efficiency from the hybrid station. For a small shift settlement with a power rating of 60 kW, the diesel power station’s output can be reduced by 25.2 kilowatt-hours per day, which is equivalent to a reduction in daily diesel fuel consumption of about 6 kilograms. If we consider an extraction facility with a power rating of 3-4 megawatts, the economic effect could amount to 20-30 thousand rubles per day, or 7-10 million rubles per year.
«"The effect of our development has two components. First, building an accurate forecast of the periods of inefficient operation of the diesel engine allows us to optimize its load. When it is insufficient, we burn fuel wastefully, meaning we produce electricity with a high specific consumption. The second component is forecasting and preventing unnecessary starts of the diesel generator in order to extend its lifespan and reduce operating costs. The tool for preventing such short-term starts is the use of renewable energy sources (RES) with a storage system.
The optimal solution is not to replace the diesel with renewable energy sources, but to combine the advantages of various generation methods. Let me explain how this works.
Let’s assume we know that the consumption at a facility will increase at a certain moment and the peak load will last for 15 minutes. Under normal multi-generator diesel station conditions, a backup generator would start during this period. Our development eliminates this need, as we have already ensured the storage system is adequately charged by the solar panel and wind turbine. Their output depends on weather conditions, which we also forecast.
At the project design stage, the operational parameters of all the elements of the hybrid power plant are integrated, and the most cost-effective station configuration for the specific consumer and location is developed, with the necessary ratio of wind turbine, solar panel, battery, and diesel generator capacities» – explained the author of the development, Yuri Zhukovsky, Director of the Digital Technologies Educational Center.
The development could be in demand from companies such as PJSC Polyus and PJSC Polymetal. It has also attracted the interest of the oil industry. Mass demand could be driven, for example, by additional incentives from the government to improve the energy efficiency of enterprises. In this regard, there is significant room for improvement: Russia ranks 4th in the world by GDP at purchasing power parity, but only 21st in terms of energy efficiency.
Currently, the developers at the Mining University are refining the algorithms, including in partnership with Chinese colleagues, and are preparing a project to create an autonomous energy system (microgrid) based at the university's training and research site in Sablino.
