Requirements for Integrating Renewables With Smart Grid

In the search for sustainable clean and green energy sources, integrating renewables with the conventional utility grid has become a standard practice. However, the power delivered by the renewable energy resources like wind and solar is intermittent in nature compared to conventional fossil fuel-based energy generations. For example, it is not easy to predict the availability of wind energy much in advance; on the other hand, even though the variability in solar energy is more than wind energy, its availability prediction is easier.Therefore, integrating such uncertain and variable energy sources with the utility grid involves appropriate planning and controlled operation of the power system as well as has extensive repercussions on the existing power transmission and distribution systems. The effective grid integration of renewable energy resources is the practice of developing efficient ways to deliver the variable renewable energy to the grid with appropriate power and control strategies by maximizing the cost-effectiveness and improved system stability and reliability. Therefore, it involves the policymakers, regulators, and system operators to consider a number of factors such as how to assimilate the new renewable sources, new transmission and distribution system, improving system flexibility, and planning for applicability of renewable resources in future. In this chapter, a brief introduction to the renewable energy resources and their characteristics is presented, and then, it is explained how the intermittent characteristics of the renewable resources affects their interconnection to the grid and the system operators, and what are the corresponding measures to it.