Orkney network deploys smart grid

The technology will allow an increased amount of renewable-energy generation to be connected.

The Orkney ‘smart grid’ is based on the principle that capacity exists in real time on the power distribution grid as a result of variation in demand for electricity and diversity in the output of grid-connected generators.

It is claimed that this technology will permit greater numbers of renewable generators to be connected to the existing electricity network in a cheaper and faster way than traditional means, by allowing generators to access power network capacity not normally available under conventional network planning requirements.

The Orkney smart grid took five years to commercially deploy, beginning with the research and development of the technology by SSE in collaboration with Strathclyde University.

SGS was spun out from Strathclyde University in 2008 to commercialise the technology and to offer it to constrained grid locations in the UK.

The commercial deployment of the smart grid on the Orkney network coincides with the UK government’s ‘Smarter Grids: The Opportunity’ proposal, which makes the case for developing smart grids in the UK.