The design of mini-grid powerline distribution networks is also ripe for optimization. When designing powerline distribution networks, we know where the generation plant will be, and we know the locations of all of our customers. In addition to regulations governing the maximum distance between two powerline poles and the maximum distance from the nearest powerline pole to a customer's home or business, we also need to ensure that the maximum voltage drop under peak load conditions is less than a particular threshold, which may involve installing transformers to step the voltage up and down in different sections of the mini-grid.
We need to design the least expensive network to successfully connect all of those customers to the generation plant given those constraints. Currently, this process is done entirely by hand, with no good tools for network optimization. Creating such a tool would both be massively beneficial to the industry while also being publishable in a journal.
David Moy
Email: [email protected]
Team Lead and Backend, algorithm work on notebook, MST and Maximum Coverage.
Bardia Zadeh
Email: [email protected]
Frontend and Web Deployment, User Interface, Data Visualization, and Interface Functionality.
Andres Chamorro
Email: [email protected]
Frontend, Doing research on APIs (Google Maps, OpenStreetsMap) for visualizing our data
Ashrith Bandla
Email: [email protected]
Backend, Working on notebook algorithm, testing new strategies for working with Steiner nodes efficiently
Toshihiko Sato
Email: [email protected]
Project Management, Drafting survey questions for our mentor and external organization (Renewvia), drafting P5 assignment, participation in team meeting as well as with Renewvia, drafting survey questions for project peer evaluations.
The goal of the project is to deliver working code that meets the primary need of generating a network optimization plan to connect homes to solar power plants as cheaply as possible. This will be done in a Jupyter/Collab notebook, which takes user inputs such as locations, distance constraints, and costs, and outputs the cheapest network plan. A front-end can visualize this plan.
Time permitting, and assuming the primary goal is completed, the secondary goal is to deliver working code that calculates voltage drop thresholds and identifies locations for transformers to ensure voltage drop stays below a specified threshold.
We will engage with our partner organization (Renewvia) regularly. We had our first meeting on September 18, 2024, and the next meeting is scheduled for October 3, 2024. We will maintain regular communication via Teams or Discord and have meetings depending on the partner's availability and project progress.
We value your feedback! Please take a moment to participate in our survey and help us improve our project. Your insights are crucial to our success and will directly influence the design and development of the P3 Solar Mini-grid.
Have any questions or inquiries? Feel free to reach out to one of our team memebers. We'd love to hear from you!