Management of Renewable Energy Sources in preparation for a Smart Grid in Oman

Electrical energy from renewable sources will certainly expand in Oman. It is expected that in addition to large-scale renewable energy power plants, many small-scale Distributed Energy Resources (DER) will be connected to the low voltage distribution network. This will change the way that electrical power flows in the system and will require a more sophisticated monitoring and control system in the distribution network. In this project, the measurements taken from renewable energy generators, which are put in the form of small-scale microgrids inside the SQU Campus, will be communicated to a control center on Campus. Monitoring and control strategies will be developed for these microgrids by making a two-way communication channel between the microgrids and the control center. The research outcomes will be used as a demonstration of the smart grid capabilities of a better management of additional DERs that will be connected to the power grid, compared to traditional grids. A small-scale pilot Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) will be developed to make an energy management system for the microgrids under study in this project. Using the outcomes of this project, in the future, it will be possible to use various types of technology, including AMI, the Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) at the distribution network, and advanced automation in order to form a smart grid capable of integrating DER and storage systems with the distribution network.