Fundamentals unveils Total Voltage Control for power grids

Fundamentals has announced the launch of Total Voltage Control, a new product ecosystem aimed at managing power flows and ensuring voltage compliance across increasingly complex power grids.

The suite of coordinated, wide area voltage control solutions is designed to help system owners and operators adhere to voltage regulation requirements on any part of the electricity network.

Total Voltage Control expands on Fundamentals’ existing solutions for High Voltage (HV) networks by introducing new technology for Low Voltage (LV) networks. This includes voltage regulation, phase balancing, and energy storage. The aim is to manage power flows and voltage profiles caused by low carbon technologies (LCT) such as electric vehicles, heat pumps, battery storage, and distributed energy resources. The new system also seeks to mitigate equipment malfunctions, energy wastage, and high energy bills linked to non-optimal voltages.

Dr. Jon Hiscock, CEO of Fundamentals, emphasised the urgency of updating ageing power grids to prepare for a low-carbon future. He said, “Today’s power grids are ageing and not designed to cope with the dynamics of a low carbon world. 225GW of capacity needs to be released to decarbonise the grid by 2035 with demand on the grid set to double by 2036."

"The grid inevitably requires reinforcement with high costs and long lead times. However, with the implementation of whole system voltage control, these could be alleviated or even obviated in some cases. It will allow system owners and operators to use existing assets more efficiently, delay reinforcement and replacement, and ultimately save money," Hiscock said.

Fundamentals aims to combine its solutions with over 30 years of industry experience, ongoing research and development, and industry partnerships. The Total Voltage Control ecosystem promises to deliver:

• Low Voltage Network Control: improving the performance of modern dynamic networks with voltage regulation, phase balancing, and energy storage to reduce energy wastage and equipment malfunctions.
• Automatic Voltage Control (AVC): optimising network voltages through the advanced control and monitoring of on-load tap changers, providing transformer paralleling, load and DER compensation, runaway prevention, management of reactive power and network load, and frequency response.
• Control Scheme Services: guaranteeing the operational integrity of tapchanger control schemes through application engineering, scheme design, panel and cubicle build, modernisation of tapchanger motor-drive mechanisms, and installation and commissioning.
• Tapchanger Services: ensuring operational availability with expertise and support for transformer and in-line regulator tap changers, including OEM spares, kits, repairs, troubleshooting, and refurbishment.

Dr. Hiscock summarised the dual challenges of managing high and low voltages on energy networks, stating, “When it comes to energy networks, high voltages can be dangerous - accelerating ageing of equipment, causing failures, energy wastage, and higher energy bills. On the other hand, low voltage can be disruptive, sometimes causing equipment malfunction. Expanding our current portfolio to offer a one-stop service for voltage compliance will ensure electricity network operators are prepared for a low carbon future and can provide energy within statutory, legal voltage limits on any part of their network.”

Fundamentals hopes that the launch of Total Voltage Control will equip electricity network operators with the tools needed to manage the complexities introduced by the energy transition, using existing assets more efficiently and delaying costly infrastructure reinforcements.