REVOLT is a two-year research project on reducing the intermittency of energy generated from renewable sources through voltage regulation for the domestic/residential sectors that started in July 2022. The project is led by the Department of Industrial Electrical Power Conversion, University of Malta, and has received funding from the Energy and Water Agency under the 2021 R&I scheme.
Renewable energy sources (RES) integration into the utility grid has increased significantly over the last couple of years. This meant that energy generation is transiting from a centralised concept to a distributed generation nature. This led to a dramatic change in the direction of load/power flows in the utility grid. Correspondingly, this brought about considerable challenges for the distribution grid operators to guarantee the quality of supply to its consumers.
When RES are actively exporting energy into the grid, the power flow reverses and current is fed back from the consumer side into the grid. Intrinsically this will result in a considerable increase in voltage at the end consumer when the collective energy injection of neighbouring RES installations is substantial. In such cases, apart from all the negative aspects that consumers might suffer from higher voltage, the RES systems will disconnect as a protective measure and hence energy is lost.