News Article
Smart Grid Approach From Tenesol
Tenesol to install 500 PV systems for €30 million smart grid project
Tenesol will install 500 PV systems and 250 converters for a major new project intended to develop a French smart grid. The work is part of the €30 million MILLENER project, funded by the French government, which will cover some of France's overseas territories. The four year project is an innovative concept that will allow homes to supply and manage their own electricity with the support of renewable energy. It also allows more demand-side power management for homes and supports the local electricity grid.
The French name for the project, MILLENER, reflects the fact the project will roll out 1,000 ("˜mille' in French) energy management systems on the islands. Tenesol has been involved in the project from the start and will use its expertise and 27 years' experience in French overseas markets to execute it.
"The scale of this project shows the French government's commitment to smart grid networks that work with renewable energy," says Benoit Rolland, managing director of Tenesol. "The use of solar energy storage systems will empower households and enable individuals to manage and generate their own electricity supply. It provides an electricity supply that is sustained and controlled."
The first installations of the project will be at residences on the islands of La Réunion and Corsica, plus some other French island territories. In these areas the use of energy storage systems in combination with photovoltaic systems is being assessed as a favoured method of improving the integration of renewable energy sources into the community, and as a contributor towards gaining power grid balance. All the installations will have a direct telecoms link to the local power grid operator, feeding back important data on the individual systems' performance.
French overseas territories have been selected for this project as they are experiencing sustained growth in energy consumption (3% "“ 5% per year), yet they experience power grid instability and there has also been significant development in more intermittent renewable energies. The PV systems will have a maximum power output of 3 kWp and will be installed on residential rooftops. The converters have been specially developed for this type of installation. The systems will be installed by early 2012 after which testing and analysis will determine their economic and technical interest.
The key benefit of MILLENER is that it allows residential PV systems to store unused energy in a battery. Then, when night falls, this stored energy can either be used by the household or sold into the local electricity grid "“ the household can decide. Seven industrial partners are involved in the project. They have joined forces to develop systems for the supply, storage and redistribution of solar energy. The pilot scheme aims to increase the use of renewable energy, improve the stability of electricity grids and identify new ways to achieve energy independence.
