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Micro Dynamic Demand and Storage (MiDDaS)
Start date: Jun 1, 2009, End date: May 31, 2011 PROJECT  FINISHED 

Power outages can be caused by a defect in a power station; damage to a power line or other parts of the distribution system, a short circuit, or the overloading of electricity mains. Out of all the causes, most of them are minimised or preventable by better maintenance except the overloading of the electricity main (Power Grids), which can’t be completely predicted. Across Europe, overloading of the mains occurs more frequently and this in impacted by the fact that energy consumption in the EU is growing and this has significant environmental impacts. There are various measures taken to tackle the overloading of the mains, including predicting when these overloads occur and preparing back up power to cater for it, however, this solution would only help in minimising it. There will still be some cases of overloading especially due to the fluctuations of the demand on the mains. All the time, Power Grids must ensure that electricity supply precisely matches the continually changing demand from the vast amount of customers. Although most of the large changes in demand are predictable there are continuous smaller fluctuations which are essentially random. And there is also always the possibility that a sudden large fluctuation could occur at any time and the sudden increased demand can cause a power line or generating station to fail. Trying to control this issue costs the Grids hundreds millions of euros, and in some cases there have been the occurrence of blackouts in some countries. There is a need for an innovative approach to reduce the pressure being put on the Grids by effectively managing the energy consumption and demand on the Grid with the incorporation of Dynamic Demand technology. Therefore our concept is to develop an innovative Power Management System, which when the demand on the Grid is low would store accessible power that can be used later to allow flexible disconnection of various appliances from the Grid when the demand on it is high.
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