Malaysia takes initiatives to modernise the electricity grid-
There has been massive economic and infrastructural development in Malaysia in the last few decades. Energy consumption has increased substantially with electricity demand per person rising from 1,460 kWh in 1993 to 4,596 kWh in 2014. In April 2016, the daily demand for electricity in Peninsular Malaysia reached its highest ever level, when it peaked at 17,788 MW. According to Suruhanjaya Tenaga (Energy Commission), electricity demand in Malaysia is further expected to grow at a rate of 2 per cent to 3 per cent annually over the next few years. With rising electricity demand, the adequacy of energy supply becomes crucial to accelerate economic development.
In order to respond to increasing energy demand in an efficient manner, Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) has been making efforts to develop a smart grid. In order to upgrade the existing electric power grid, TNB is deploying more automation and information and communication technology, enabling it to operate more efficiently. A smart grid also offers additional services to consumers that help them save money as well as reduce their carbon footprint. Further, a smart grid allows consumers to understand their consumption pattern on a real-time basis and enables remote meter reading. At the distribution grid level, it enables distribution system automation and allows for the integration of renewable energy into the grid. On the whole, through better monitoring, a smart grid facilitates increased asset utilisation and reduces operational as well as technical losses.
In line with global trends, developments in power transmission in the Southeast Asian region have been driven significantly by government regulations and customer demands. It is against this background that TNB formulated its smart grid development plan.
Recent initiatives
To develop the “grid of the future”, TNB conceptualised its smart grid (SG) vision in 2009. The utility aimed to implement SG test systems as demonstration projects in four phases. The initiatives are aimed at achieving four main objectives – improving grid productivity, sustaining reliability and quality, improving customer experience, and integrating new technologies.
Under Phase 1 (2010-11), the focus was on improving operational efficiency through the implementation of distribution automation at pilot sites, deployment of distribution management system (DMS) modules and the development of an integrated customer information system. During Phase 2 (2011-13), advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) was deployed to increase customer participation. The utility also developed voltage-ampere reactive (VAR) control and increased transmission and distribution asset utilisation to improve energy efficiency. During Phase 3 (2013-15), efforts were made to reduce carbon emissions through the development of solar photovoltaic plants, energy storage solutions, electric vehicles (EVs), etc., while Phase 4 (2016-17) focused on the implementation of an intelligent microgrid with distributed renewable energy generation. As a result of these initiatives, processes such as fault location and feeder configuration have become automated at project sites. Further, the two-way flow of energy has allowed consumers to act as “prosumers” and it has improved their capability to make decisions regarding their electricity usage.
Recognising the need to integrate distributed energy with the grid and to facilitate a bidirectional flow of data and energy, TNB initiated its digital transformation plan in 2015. Under the plan, the utility installed 1,000 smart meters, with 800 of them being installed in various premises in Melaka and the remaining 200 in Putrajaya. After the successful implementation of the project, TNB announced nationwide smart meter deployment in 2016, for which the utility has entered into a strategic alliance with Trilliant. Currently TNB is in the first phase of the process of nationwide deployment, installing smart meters for 340,000 customers in Melaka. During the next phase in 2018, TNB plans to continue the nationwide implementation of smart meters, deploying at least 2 million smart meters, with the programme slated for completion in 2022. A total of 9.2 million TNB customers throughout Malaysia will have been covered under the project by then.
For the smart meter project, Universiti Tenaga Nasional (UNITEN), a wholly owned subsidiary of TNB, had collaborated with Cyient Limited in 2015 for joint research on smart grid technologies. Further, in 2017, TNB inked another MoU with Elia, an energy transmission system operator, to jointly implement around 13 projects over a period of two to three years. Under the agreement, both the companies will share their knowledge and expertise in asset management, grid infrastructure development, cross-boundary operations, etc. To extend the efforts for digitisation throughout Malaysia, TNB has also partnered with Telekom Malaysia Bhd to develop a plan for the expansion of high speed interest access in the country and deliver on the government’s Nationwide Fiberisation Plan. These collaborations are expected to play an instrumental role in delivering smart communication solutions to TNB for shaping its smart grid.
Technologies implemented
To date, TNB research has implemented some successful projects under the SG vision such as wide area interoperability system (WAIS)-based control and protection system applications, IEC 61850 for substation automation including intelligent system and monitoring, overhead transmission line real-time thermal rating, and knowledge-based analytics system for power transformer online monitoring. The utility plans to focus on field force automation, volt/VAR optimisation and asset management analytics as well. TNB’s planned SG communication and information structure is bidirectional and open standard with reliability and security. These technologies will allow TNB to reduce its operational costs, and improve load forecasting, and the overall customer experience. With the use of sensors, automated controls and advanced software, a grid can be transformed into a “self-healing grid” that can utilise real-time distribution data to detect and isolate faults and can reconfigure the distribution network to minimise the impact of grid failure.
The utility has rolled out supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) technology and outage management system in Kuala Lumpur and Penang. There are also ongoing pilot projects being undertaken for network and substation automation and dynamic line rating. Further, preliminary pilots are being conducted for TNB research with respect to EVs and commercial discussions with EV fleet operators are currently in process. Most of these projects are in the initial stages of implementation and several stakeholders from transmission, distribution and information and communication technology are coming together to scale up pilot projects for achieving large-scale results.
The way forward
As grid operations increasingly move from manual to software-based technologies, more data becomes available to the utility to improve asset management, capital planning allocation and field automation. However, with the huge availability of data and advanced analytics at disposal, the decision-makers need to ensure that the technologies are in sync with business goals and operation. Depending on the technologies deployed, a smart grid also paves way to enter into adjacencies such as smart city solutions.
TNB’s Grid of the Future initiatives are expected to provide benefits to both TNB and its customers. At the transmission grid level, the initiatives will enable cross-boundary energy transfer, develop a more robust high voltage grid and achieve a self-healing grid for the region.
However, it is crucial that institutional support is provided for realignment and integration of pilots being implemented by different parties in the country in order to achieve this vision. Moreover, adequate funding and investments will be required for scaling up the pilot projects. Even though there are challenges arising out of integration of renewable energy generation and electric vehicles to the grid, with the SG roadmap in place, Malaysia is expected to be well equipped to address these challenges. The SG vision is also likely to pave the way for an interconnected Association of Southeast Asian nation (ASEAN) region that can facilitate reliable supply across neighbouring countries and optimise power generation and supply in the ASEAN region.
