Energynautics successfully completes two projects in India, providing recommendations for DER integration

Supporting DER Integration in India

Energynautics together with Idam Infrastructure have completed two projects with the goal of providing technical recommendations towards increasing Distributed Energy Resource (DER) integration in India. Three dissemination workshops were held between the 22 and 26 August 2022, in the cities of Gandhinagar, Mumbai, and Thiruvananthapuram.

The recommendations were developed in the framework of two Indo-German development cooperation projects that Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH implements on behalf of the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ):

  • Energy Transition with Distribution Companies: Technical Standards for DER integration international review, India’s gap analyses and way forward
  • Indo-German Solar Energy Partnership: Developing Accelerated PV Grid Integration Strategy for the State of Gujarat

Both projects had the ultimate goal of contributing to India’s transition towards higher DER penetration and therefore supported the joint dissemination event.

Key stakeholders from each state participated in the dissemination event, including more than 100 representatives of the central electricity authority, distribution companies, energy development agencies, regulatory commissions, electrical inspectorates, research agencies, and EPC companies. The events provided the opportunity to collect feedback from various stakeholders on the recommendations for DER technical requirements that were provided in the projects.

GIZ, Idam and Energynautics representatives at Thiruvananthapuram

 

 

Ph.D.
Eckehard
Tröster
CEO & Senior Consultant
+49 (0) 6151 / 785 81 03

The main technical challenges of DER integration were identified as well as a range of potential mitigating solutions, considering past experiences and best practices of countries that reached high DER shares (Germany, Australia and the United States – California and Hawaii). Challenges included the disconnection of large shares of distributed generation in voltage or frequency events, a decrease in system inertia due to DER displacing synchronous generators, the occurrence of overvoltages linked to reverse power flows, cybersecurity issues, among others. Many DER-related challenges can be mitigated by setting adequate technical requirements for DERs, such as reactive power capability and control modes, voltage and frequency ride-through, ramp rate limitations, etc. Therefore, a gap analysis was conducted, which compared DER technical requirements in the reviewed countries to the current requirements in India. In a second stage, the importance of technical standards and compliance mechanisms for DER integration was emphasized along with recommendations for developing a technical standard for DERs in considering the identified gaps, including a proposed timeline for implementation.